daviking1:
In part you said, "So I see that no one wanted to take a stab at my question. Closed ranks. Somethin' is rank."
In some quarters the word rank is considered an insult.
–noun 1. a number of persons forming a separate class in a social hierarchy or in any graded body.
2. a social or official position or standing, as in the armed forces: the rank of captain.
3. high position or station in the social or some similar scale: a woman of rank.
4. a class in any scale of comparison.
5. relative position or standing: a writer of the first rank.
6. a row, line, or series of things or persons: orchestra players arranged in ranks.
7. ranks, a. the members of an armed service apart from its officers; enlisted personnel.
b. military enlisted personnel as a group.
8. Usually, ranks. the general body of any party, society, or organization apart from the officers or leaders.
9. orderly arrangement; array.
10. a line of persons, esp. soldiers, standing abreast in close-order formation (distinguished from file).
11. British. a place or station occupied by vehicles available for hire; stand: a taxi rank.
12. Chess. one of the horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard.
13. a set of organ pipes of the same kind and tonal color.
14. Also called determinant rank. Mathematics. the order of the nonzero determinant of greatest order that can be selected from a given matrix by the elimination of rows and columns.
15. Mining. the classification of coal according to hardness, from lignite to anthracite.
–verb (used with object)
16. to arrange in ranks or in regular formation: The men were ranked according to height. He ranked the chess pieces on the board.
17. to assign to a particular position, station, class, etc.: She was ranked among the most admired citizens.
18. to outrank: The colonel ranks all other officers in the squadron.
19. Slang. to insult; criticize.
–verb (used without object) 20. to form a rank or ranks.
21. to take up or occupy a place in a particular rank, class, etc.: to rank well ahead of the other students.
22. to have rank or standing.
23. to be the senior in rank: The colonel ranks at this camp.
24. Slang. to complain.
—Idioms25. break ranks, a. to leave an assigned position in a military formation.
b. to disagree with, defect from, or refuse to support one's colleagues, party, or the like.
26. pull rank (on), to make use of one's superior rank to gain an advantage over (someone). Also, pull one's rank (on).
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[Origin: 1560–70; < F ranc (n., obs.), OF renc, ranc, rang row, line < Gmc, akin to ring1]
—Related forms
rankless, adjective
—Synonyms 3. distinction, eminence, dignity. 6. range, tier. 9. alignment. 16. align, range, array.
Good will always win out over evil.
AI
