Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Range in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels range as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Range

[OE. rengen, OF. rengier, F. ranger, OF. renc row, rank, F. rang; of German origin. See Rank, n.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordrange
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[OE. rengen, OF. rengier, F. ranger, OF. renc row, rank, F. rang; of German origin. See Rank, n.]
Selected historical definitionTo set in a row, or in rows; to place in a regular line or lines, or in ranks; to dispose in the proper order; to rank; as, to range soldiers in line.
Signed record IDwebster1913-range-verb-040424ea4989
Source locatorCIDE.R, paragraph 907; Gutenberg eBook 667
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 667Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "range" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. rengen, OF. rengier, F. ranger, OF. renc row, rank, F. rang; of German origin. See Rank, n.]" The selected historical definition says: "To set in a row, or in rows; to place in a regular line or lines, or in ranks; to dispose in the proper order; to rank; as, to range soldiers in line."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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[Pref. re- + search: cf. OF. recerchier, F. rechercher.]

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[Cf. F. rapport. See Report.v. t.]

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Reason

[Cf. F. raisonner. See Reason, n.]

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