"on the rails" meaning in English

See on the rails in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} on the rails, {{en-PP}} on the rails
  1. (idiomatic) In working order, functioning properly. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-1g7yxlDs Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 76 2 21 1
  2. In a train or on trains.
    Sense id: en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-feAUUv~B
  3. (horse racing) Racing toward the inside, near the fence that bounds the track. Categories (lifeform): Horse racing
    Sense id: en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-JXRCbuCT Topics: hobbies, horse-racing, horseracing, horses, lifestyle, pets, racing, sports
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, rail.
    Sense id: en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-riPTaI38

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for on the rails meaning in English (3.7kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "on the rails",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "on the rails",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "76 2 21 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Paul Clarke, Learning Schools, Learning Systems, page vii",
          "text": "To The wineplace.com and Chris, Marshy and Chris for keeping me on the rails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Frederick Ferre, Living and Value: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Ethics, page 4",
          "text": "Logic is nothing other than methods we have learned that keep thinking on the rails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Peter Pedersen, ANZACS on the Western Front",
          "text": "Menin Road got the offensive back on the rails but conditions, which had been deplorable before, favoured the outcome.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In working order, functioning properly."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-1g7yxlDs",
      "links": [
        [
          "working order",
          "working order"
        ],
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ],
        [
          "properly",
          "properly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In working order, functioning properly."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Dan Gerber, A Voice from the River: A Novel, page 14",
          "text": "For several Saturdays after he'd seen a film about men who lived on the rails, he left home with a Spam sandwich in a paper bag, a compass and a ball of twine (though he wasn't sure why he included the twine).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Meynardie Blanchard, Rails Trails and Other Tales, page 31",
          "text": "And then over two months of hitch-hiking' and trekking in Banff and Jasper National Parks, and a few hundred miles on the rails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Jeri Quinzio, Food on the Rails: The Golden Era of Railroad Dining, page 12",
          "text": "Nevertheless, he loved traveling on the rails and became a lifelong railroad buff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a train or on trains."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-feAUUv~B",
      "links": [
        [
          "train",
          "train"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Horse racing",
          "orig": "en:Horse racing",
          "parents": [
            "Equestrianism",
            "Horses",
            "Sports",
            "Equids",
            "Livestock",
            "Human activity",
            "Odd-toed ungulates",
            "Agriculture",
            "Animals",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Mammals",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Lifeforms",
            "Human",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Chordates",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Racing toward the inside, near the fence that bounds the track."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-JXRCbuCT",
      "links": [
        [
          "horse racing",
          "horse racing"
        ],
        [
          "inside",
          "inside"
        ],
        [
          "fence",
          "fence"
        ],
        [
          "track",
          "track"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(horse racing) Racing toward the inside, near the fence that bounds the track."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "horse-racing",
        "horseracing",
        "horses",
        "lifestyle",
        "pets",
        "racing",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1830, Thomas Earle, A Treatise on Railroads and Internal Communications, etc, page 54",
          "text": "The larger the wheels, the less will any dust, twigs, or inequalities on the rails affect them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Reg Twigg, Survivor on the River Kwai",
          "text": "Now we lounged on the decks all the time, feet up on the rails while a string band played for us.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, rail."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_rails-en-prep_phrase-riPTaI38",
      "links": [
        [
          "on",
          "on#English"
        ],
        [
          "rail",
          "rail#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "on the rails"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English prepositional phrases"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "on the rails",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "on the rails",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Paul Clarke, Learning Schools, Learning Systems, page vii",
          "text": "To The wineplace.com and Chris, Marshy and Chris for keeping me on the rails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Frederick Ferre, Living and Value: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Ethics, page 4",
          "text": "Logic is nothing other than methods we have learned that keep thinking on the rails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Peter Pedersen, ANZACS on the Western Front",
          "text": "Menin Road got the offensive back on the rails but conditions, which had been deplorable before, favoured the outcome.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In working order, functioning properly."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "working order",
          "working order"
        ],
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ],
        [
          "properly",
          "properly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In working order, functioning properly."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Dan Gerber, A Voice from the River: A Novel, page 14",
          "text": "For several Saturdays after he'd seen a film about men who lived on the rails, he left home with a Spam sandwich in a paper bag, a compass and a ball of twine (though he wasn't sure why he included the twine).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Meynardie Blanchard, Rails Trails and Other Tales, page 31",
          "text": "And then over two months of hitch-hiking' and trekking in Banff and Jasper National Parks, and a few hundred miles on the rails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Jeri Quinzio, Food on the Rails: The Golden Era of Railroad Dining, page 12",
          "text": "Nevertheless, he loved traveling on the rails and became a lifelong railroad buff.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a train or on trains."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "train",
          "train"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Horse racing"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Racing toward the inside, near the fence that bounds the track."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "horse racing",
          "horse racing"
        ],
        [
          "inside",
          "inside"
        ],
        [
          "fence",
          "fence"
        ],
        [
          "track",
          "track"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(horse racing) Racing toward the inside, near the fence that bounds the track."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "horse-racing",
        "horseracing",
        "horses",
        "lifestyle",
        "pets",
        "racing",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1830, Thomas Earle, A Treatise on Railroads and Internal Communications, etc, page 54",
          "text": "The larger the wheels, the less will any dust, twigs, or inequalities on the rails affect them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Reg Twigg, Survivor on the River Kwai",
          "text": "Now we lounged on the decks all the time, feet up on the rails while a string band played for us.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, rail."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "on",
          "on#English"
        ],
        [
          "rail",
          "rail#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "on the rails"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.