RACE, n. [L. radix and radius having the same original. This word coincides in origin with rod, ray, radiate, &c.]

1. The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. A race is the series of descendants indefinitely. Thus all mankind are called the race of Adam; the Israelites are of the race of Abraham and Jacob. Thus we speak of a race of kings, the race of Clovis or Charlemagne; a race of nobles, &c. Hence the long race of Alban fathers come. – Dryden.
2. A generation; a family of descendants. A rare of youthful and unhandled colts. – Shak.
3. A particular breed; as, a race of mules; a race of horses; a race of sheep. – Chapman. Of such a race, no matter who is king. – Murphy.
4. A root; as, race-ginger, ginger in the root or not pulverized.
5. A small artificial canal or water course, leading from the dam of a stream, to the machinery which it drives; sometimes called the head-race, in opposition to the tail-race.
6. A particular strength or taste of wine; a kind of tartness. [Query, does this belong to this root or to the following?] – Temple. Massenger. Tail-race, the water course leading from the bottom of a water-wheel.

1. A running; a rapid course or motion, either on the feet, on horseback or in a carriage, &c.; particularly, a contest in running; a running in competition for a prize. The race was one of the exercises of the Grecian games. – Encyc. I wield the gauntlet and I run the race. – Pope.
2. Any running with speed. The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beast. – Bacon.
3. A progress; a course; a movement or progression of any kind. My race of glory run. – Pope. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. – Heb. xii.
4. Course; train; process; as, the prosecution and race of the war. [Not now used.] Bacon.
5. A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for such a current; as, a mill-race.
6. By way of distinction, a contest in the running of horses; generally in the plural. The races commence in October.

To run swiftly; to run or contend in running. The animals raced over the ground.

1. To raze.
   
   
   [Obs.] Spenser.

2. A root.
   
   
   "A race or two of ginger." Shak.

   Race ginger, ginger in the root, or not pulverized.

3. The descendants of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, people, or nation, believed or presumed to belong to the same stock; a lineage; a breed.
   
   

   The whole race of mankind. Shak.

   Whence the long race of Alban fathers come. Dryden.

   * Naturalists and ethnographers divide mankind into several distinct varieties, or races. Cuvier refers them all to three, Pritchard enumerates seven, Agassiz eight, Pickering describes eleven. One of the common classifications is that of Blumenbach, who makes five races: the Caucasian, or white race, to which belong the greater part of the European nations and those of Western Asia; the Mongolian, or yellow race, occupying Tartary, China, Japan, etc.; the Ethiopian, or negro race, occupying most of Africa (except the north), Australia, Papua, and other Pacific Islands; the American, or red race, comprising the Indians of North and South America; and the Malayan, or brown race, which occupies the islands of the Indian Archipelago, etc. Many recent writers classify the Malay and American races as branches of the Mongolian. See Illustration in Appendix.

4. A progress; a course; a movement or progression.
5. To run swiftly; to contend in a race; as, the animals raced over the ground; the ships raced from port to port.
6. To cause to contend in a race; to drive at high speed; as, to race horses.
7. Company; herd; breed.
   
   

   For do but note a wild and wanton herd,
   Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,
   Fetching mad bounds. Shak.

8. Esp., swift progress; rapid course; a running.
   
   

   The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts. Bacon.

9. To run too fast at times, as a marine engine or screw, when the screw is lifted out of water by the action of a heavy sea.
10. To run a race with.
11. A variety of such fixed character that it may be propagated by seed.
12. Hence: The act or process of running in competition; a contest of speed in any way, as in running, riding, driving, skating, rowing, sailing; in the plural, usually, a meeting for contests in the running of horses; as, he attended the races.
    
    

    The race is not to the swift. Eccl. ix. 11.

    I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race. Pope.

13. Peculiar flavor, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavor; smack.
    
    
    "A race of heaven." Shak.

    Is it [the wine] of the right race ? Massinger.

14. Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life.
    
    

    My race of glory run, and race of shame. Milton.

15. Hence, characteristic quality or disposition.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    And now I give my sensual race the rein. Shak.

    Some . . . great race of fancy or judgment. Sir W. Temple.

    Syn. -- Lineage; line; family; house; breed; offspring; progeny; issue.

16. A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for such a current; a powerful current or heavy sea, sometimes produced by the meeting of two tides; as, the Portland Race; the Race of Alderney.
17. The current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel in which it flows; a mill race.
    
    

    * The part of the channel above the wheel is sometimes called the headrace, the part below, the tailrace.

18. A channel or guide along which a shuttle is driven back and forth, as in a loom, sewing machine, etc.
    
    

    Race cloth, a cloth worn by horses in racing, having pockets to hold the weights prescribed. -- Race course. (a) The path, generally circular or elliptical, over which a race is run. (b) Same as Race way, below. -- Race cup, a cup given as a prize to the victor in a race. -- Race glass, a kind of field glass. -- Race horse. (a) A horse that runs in competition; specifically, a horse bred or kept for running races. (b) A breed of horses remarkable for swiftness in running. (c) (Zoöl.) The steamer duck. (d) (Zoöl.) A mantis. -- Race knife, a cutting tool with a blade that is hooked at the point, for marking outlines, on boards or metals, as by a pattern, -- used in shipbuilding. -- Race saddle, a light saddle used in racing. -- Race track. Same as Race course (a), above. -- Race way, the canal for the current that drives a water wheel.