2. (Steam Mach.) 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.
{Race ginger}, ginger in the root, or not pulverized.
The whole race of mankind. --Shak.
Whence the long race of Alban fathers come.
--Dryden.
Note: Naturalists and ehnographers 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.
For do but note a wild and wanton herd, Or race of
youthful and unhandled colts, Fetching mad bounds.
--Shak.
3. (Bot.) A variety of such fixed character that it may be
propagated by seed.
4. 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 ? --Massinqer.
5. 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.
2. Esp., swift progress; rapid course; a running.
The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of
any beasts. --Bacon.
3. 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.
4. Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged;
hence, career; course of life.
My race of glory run, and race of shame. --Milton.
5. 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.
6. The current of water that turns a water wheel, or the
channel in which it flows; a mill race.
Note: The part of the channel above the wheel is sometimes
called the headrace, the part below, the tailrace.
7. (Mach.) 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) (Zo["o]l.) The steamer duck.
(d) (Zo["o]l.) 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.