RANGE, verb transitive

1. To set in a row or in rows; to place in a regular line, lines or ranks; to dispose in the proper order; as, to range troops in a body; to range men or ships in the order of battle.

2. To dispose in proper classes, orders or divisions; as, to range plants and animals in genera and species.

3. To dispose in a proper manner; to place in regular method; in a general sense. range and arrange are used indifferently in the same sense.

4. To rove over; to pass over.

Teach him to range the ditch and force the brake.

[This use is elliptical, over being omitted.]

5. To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near; as, to range the coast, that is, along the coast.

RANGE, verb intransitive

1. To rove at large; to wander without restraint or direction.

As a roaring lion and a ranging bear. Proverbs 28:1.

2. To be placed in order; to be ranked.

'Tis better to be lowly born, and range with humble livers in content -

[In this sense, rank is now used.]

3. To lie in a particular direction.

Which way thy forests range -

We say, the front of a house ranges with the line of the street.

4. To sail or pass near or in the direction of; as, to range along the coast.

RANGE, noun [See Rank.]

1. A row; a rank; things in a line; as a range of buildings; a range of mountains; ranges of colors.

2. A class; an order.

The next range of beings above him are the immaterial intelligences -

3. A wandering or roving; excursion.

He may take a range all the world over.

4. Space or room for excursion.

A man has not enough range of thought -

5. Compass or extent of excursion; space taken in by any thing extended or ranked in order; as the range of Newton's thought. No philosopher has embraced a wider range

Far as creation's ample range extends.

6. The step of a ladder. [Corrupted in popular language to rung.]

7. A kitchen grate.

8. A bolting sieve to sift meal.

9. In gunnery, the path of a bullet or bomb, or the line it describes from the mouth of the piece to the point where it lodges; or the whole distance which it passes. When a cannon lies horizontally, it is called the right level, or point blank range; when the muzzle is elevated to 45 degrees, it is called the utmost range To this may be added the ricochet, the rolling or bounding shot, with the piece elevated from three to six degrees.