1. [n]  a place for shooting (firing or driving) projectiles of various kinds; "the army maintains a missile range in the desert"; "any good golf club will have a range where you can practice"
2. [n]  a kitchen appliance used for cooking food; "dinner was already on the stove"
3. [n]  an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power"
4. [n]  the limit of capability; "within the compass of education"
5. [n]  a variety of different things or activities; "he answered a range of questions"; "he was impressed by the range and diversity of the collection"
6. [n]  the limits within which something can be effective; "range of motion"; "he was beyond the reach of their fire"
7. [n]  a large tract of grassy open land on which livestock can graze; "they used to drive the cattle across the open range every spring"; "he dreamed of a home on the range"
8. [n]  a series of hills or mountains; "the valley was between two ranges of hills"; "the plains lay just beyond the mountain range"
9. [n]  the limits of the values a function can take; "the range of this function is the interval from 0 to 1"
10. [v]  assign a rank or rating to; "how would you rank these students?"; "The restaurant is rated highly in the food guide"
11. [v]  let eat; "range the animals in the prairie"
12. [v]  lay out in a line
13. [v]  feed as in a meadow or pasture; "the herd was grazing"
14. [v]  move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next"
15. [v]  range or extend over; occupy a certain area; "The plants straddle the entire state"
16. [v]  change or be different within limits; "Estimates for the losses in the earthquake range as high as $2 billion"; "Interest rates run from 5 to 10 percent"; "The instruments ranged from tuba to cymbals"; "My students range from very bright to dull"
17. [v]  have a range; be capable of projecting over a certain distance, as of a gun; "This gun ranges over two miles"

1. \Range\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ranged}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Ranging}.] [OE. rengen, OF. rengier, F. ranger, OF. renc
   row, rank, F. rang; of German origin. See {Rane}, n.]
   1. 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.
            Maccabeus ranged his army by hands.   --2 Macc. xii.
                                                  20.
   2. To place (as a single individual) among others in a line,
      row, or order, as in the ranks of an army; -- usually,
      reflexively and figuratively, (in the sense) to espouse a
      cause, to join a party, etc.
            It would be absurd in me to range myself on the side
            of the Duke of Bedford and the corresponding
            society.                              --Burke.
   3. To separate into parts; to sift. [Obs.] --Holland.
   4. To dispose in a classified or in systematic order; to
      arrange regularly; as, to range plants and animals in
      genera and species.
   5. To rove over or through; as, to range the fields.
            Teach him to range the ditch, and force the brake.
                                                  --Gay.
   6. To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near; as, to
      range the coast.
   Note: Compare the last two senses (5 and 6) with the French
         ranger une c[^o]te.
   7. (Biol.) To be native to, or to live in; to frequent.
   

2. \Range\, v. i.
   1. To rove at large; to wander without restraint or
      direction; to roam.
            Like a ranging spaniel that barks at every bird he
            sees.                                 --Burton.
   2. To have range; to change or differ within limits; to be
      capable of projecting, or to admit of being projected,
      especially as to horizontal distance; as, the temperature
      ranged through seventy degrees Fahrenheit; the gun ranges
      three miles; the shot ranged four miles.
   3. To be placed in order; to be ranked; to admit of
      arrangement or classification; to rank.
            And range with humble livers in content. --Shak.
   4. To have a certain direction; to correspond in direction;
      to be or keep in a corresponding line; to trend or run; --
      often followed by with; as, the front of a house ranges
      with the street; to range along the coast.
            Which way the forests range.          --Dryden.
   5. (Biol.) To be native to, or live in, a certain district or
      region; as, the peba ranges from Texas to Paraguay.
   Syn: To rove; roam; ramble; wander; stroll.
   

3. \Range\, n. [From {Range}, v.: cf. F. rang['e]e.]
   1. A series of things in a line; a row; a rank; as, a range
      of buildings; a range of mountains.
   2. An aggregate of individuals in one rank or degree; an
      order; a class.
            The next range of beings above him are the
            immaterial intelligences.             --Sir M. Hale.
   3. The step of a ladder; a rung. --Clarendon.
   4. A kitchen grate. [Obs.]
            He was bid at his first coming to take off the
            range, and let down the cinders.      --L'Estrange.
   5. An extended cooking apparatus of cast iron, set in
      brickwork, and affording conveniences for various ways of
      cooking; also, a kind of cooking stove.
   6. A bolting sieve to sift meal. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
   7. A wandering or roving; a going to and fro; an excursion; a
      ramble; an expedition.
            He may take a range all the world over. --South.
   8. That which may be ranged over; place or room for
      excursion; especially, a region of country in which cattle
      or sheep may wander and pasture.
   9. Extent or space taken in by anything excursive; compass or
      extent of excursion; reach; scope; discursive power; as,
      the range of one's voice, or authority.
            Far as creation's ample range extends. --Pope.
            The range and compass of Hammond's knowledge filled
            the whole circle of the arts.         --Bp. Fell.
            A man has not enough range of thought. --Addison.
   10. (Biol.) The region within which a plant or animal
       naturally lives.
   11. (Gun.)
       (a) The horizontal distance to which a shot or other
           projectile is carried.
       (b) Sometimes, less properly, the trajectory of a shot or
           projectile.
       (c) A place where shooting, as with cannons or rifles, is
           practiced.
   12. In the public land system of the United States, a row or
       line of townships lying between two succession meridian
       lines six miles apart.
   Note: The meridians included in each great survey are
         numbered in order east and west from the ``principal
         meridian'' of that survey, and the townships in the
         range are numbered north and south from the ``base
         line,'' which runs east and west; as, township No. 6,
         N., range 7, W., from the fifth principal meridian.
   13. (Naut.) See {Range of cable}, below.
   {Range of accommodation} (Optics), the distance between the
      near point and the far point of distinct vision, --
      usually measured and designated by the strength of the
      lens which if added to the refracting media of the eye
      would cause the rays from the near point to appear as if
      they came from the far point.
   {Range finder} (Gunnery), an instrument, or apparatus,
      variously constructed, for ascertaining the distance of an
      inaccessible object, -- used to determine what elevation
      must be given to a gun in order to hit the object; a
      position finder.
   {Range of cable} (Naut.), a certain length of slack cable
      ranged along the deck preparatory to letting go the
      anchor.
   {Range work} (Masonry), masonry of squared stones laid in
      courses each of which is of even height throughout the
      length of the wall; -- distinguished from broken range
      work, which consists of squared stones laid in courses not
      continuously of even height.
   {To get the range of} (an object) (Gun.), to find the angle
      at which the piece must be raised to reach (the object)
      without carrying beyond.
   

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