rule

RULE, n. [L. regula, from rego, to govern, that is, to stretch, strain or make straight.]

1. Government; sway; empire; control; supreme command or authority.

A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame. Prov. 17.

And his stern rule the groaning land obey'd.

2. That which is established as a principle, standard or directory; that by which any thing is to be adjusted or regulated, or to which it is to be conformed; that which is settled by authority or custom for guidance and direction. Thus a statute or law is a rule of civil conduct; a canon is a rule of ecclesiastical government; the precept or command of a father is a rule of action or obedience to children; precedents in law are rules of decision to judges; maxims and customs furnish rules for regulating our social opinions and manners. The laws of God are rules for directing us in life, paramount to all others.

A rule which you do not apply, is no rule at all.

3. An instrument by which lines are drawn.

Judicious artist will use his eye, but he will trust only to his rule.

4. Established mode or course of proceeding prescribed in private life. Every man should have some fixed rules for managing his own affairs.

5. In literature, a maxim, canon or precept to be observed in any art or science.

6. In monasteries, corporations or societies, a law or regulation to be observed by the society and its particular members.

7. In courts, rules are the determinations and orders of court, to be observed by its officers in conducting the business of the court.

8. In arithmetic and algebra, a determinate mode prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.

9. In grammar, an establish form of construction in a particular class of words; or the expression of that form in words. Thus it is a rule in English, that s or es, added to a noun in the singular number, forms the plural of that noun; but man forms its plural men, and is an exception to the rule.

Rule of three, is that rule of arithmetic which directs, when three terms are given, how to find a fourth, which shall have the same ratio to the third term, as the second has to the first.

RULE, v.t.

1. To govern; to control the will and actions of others, either by arbitrary power and authority, or by established laws. The emperors of the east rule their subjects without the restraints of a constitution. In limited governments, men are ruled by known laws.

If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? 1Tim. 3.

2. To govern the movements of things; to conduct; to manage; to control. That God rules the world he has created, is a fundamental article of belief.

3. To manage; to conduct, in almost any manner.

4. To settle as by a rule.

That's a ruled case with the schoolmen.

5. To mark with lines by a ruler; as, to rule a blank book.

6. To establish by decree or decision; to determine; as a court.

RULE, v.i. To have power or command; to exercise supreme authority.

By me princes rule. Prov. 8.

It is often followed by over.

They shall rule over their oppressors. Is. 14.

We subdue and rule over all other creatures.