the.com/railing
the only thing standing between you and a very educational fall
means A barrier of horizontal or vertical bars, typically along stairs, balconies, or edges, meant to keep people from falling or wandering off.
from From 'rail,' which came into English through Old French 'reille' (a bar or rod), itself from Latin 'regula' — a straight stick, a rule, a ruler. So a railing is, quite literally, a thing that keeps you in line. The '-ing' is the same collective ending that turns 'rope' into 'roping' — here naming the whole assembly of rails rather than a single bar.
- code rule
- Most must survive a 200-pound shove sideways
- baluster gap
- Spaced under 4 inches so heads can't slip
- old name
- Derived from Latin regula, meaning straight rod
- hand habit
- Polished smooth by millions of nervous palms