rank

Etymology 1

From Middle English rank (“strong, proud”), from Old English ranc (“proud, haughty, arrogant, insolent, forward, overbearing, showy, ostentatious, splendid, bold, valiant, noble, brave, strong, full-grown, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rank, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“straight, direct”). Cognate with Dutch rank (“slender, slim”), Low German rank (“slender, projecting, lank”), Danish rank (“straight, erect, slender”), Swedish rank (“slender, shaky, wonky”), Icelandic rakkur (“straight, slender, bold, valiant”).

adj

1. (obsolete) Strong; powerful; capable of acting or being used with great effect; energetic; vigorous; headstrong.
   1. Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.
      1. Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile.
         rank land
      2. Suffering from overgrowth or hypertrophy; plethoric.
   2. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome.
      1. Having a very strong and bad taste or odor.
         Your gym clothes are rank, bro – when'd you last wash 'em?
      2. (informal) Gross, disgusting, foul.
2. (intensifier, negative) complete, unmitigated, utter.
   rank treason
   rank nonsense
   I am a rank amateur as a wordsmith.
   England's domination of the first half was almost total, but they somehow contrived to allow Tunisia to raise themselves off the floor by virtue of rank carelessness from [Gareth] Southgate's side. 18 June 2018, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2019-04-21
   Chelsea remain rank outsiders to retain their crown and they still lie 12 points adrift of United, but Ancelotti will regard this as a performance that supports his insistence that they can still have a say when the major prizes are handed out this season. March 1, 2011, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Man Utd”, in BBC
3. (obsolete) lustful; lascivious

adv

1. (obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.

Etymology 2

From Middle English rank (“line, row”), from Old French ranc, rang, reng (“line, row, rank”) (Modern French rang), from Frankish *hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“something bent or curved”). Akin to Old High German (h)ring, Old Frisian hring, Old English hring, hrincg (“ring”), Old Norse hringr (“ring, circle, queue, sword; ship”). Doublet of ring and rink.

noun

1. A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers.
   The front rank kneeled to reload while the second rank fired over their heads.
   The Musketeers being on both flancks, firſt firing let the Ranck ſtand, and fire every Ranck, paſſing through before his leader[…] 1684, Richard Elton, The compleat body of the Art Military[…], 2nd edition, page 196
   Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs[…]. 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict
2. (chess) One of the eight horizontal lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a number).
3. (music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.
4. One's position in a list sorted by a shared property such as physical location, population, or quality.
   Based on your test scores, you have a rank of 23.
   The fancy hotel was of the first rank.
5. The level of one's position in a class-based society.
6. (typically in the plural) A category of people, such as those who share an occupation or belong to an organisation.
   a membership drawn from the ranks of wealthy European businessmen
   Earlier this month police in Norfolk were called after five hives thought to contain around 60,000 bees and £600 worth of honey were taken. … Suspicions among beekeepers that the culprits come from their own ranks were underlined by the fact that a bee smoker was left at the scene by someone who presumably knew that it could be used to calm the insects before taking them. September 23, 2017, “From north Wales to Norfolk, distraught beekeepers ask: who’s stealing our hives?”, in The Observer
7. A hierarchical level in an organization such as the military.
   Private First Class (PFC) is the second-lowest rank in the Marines.
   He rose up through the ranks of the company, from mailroom clerk to CEO.
8. (taxonomy) A level in a scientific taxonomy system.
   Phylum is the taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.
9. (mathematics) The dimensionality of an array (computing) or tensor.
10. (linear algebra) The maximal number of linearly independent columns (or rows) of a matrix.
11. (algebra) The maximum quantity of D-linearly independent elements of a module (over an integral domain D).
12. (mathematics) The size of any basis of a given matroid.

verb

1. To place abreast, or in a line.
2. To have a ranking.
   Their defense ranked third in the league.
3. To assign a suitable place in a class or order; to classify.
   From time to time the coaches of the Lötschberg Railway itself, which in comfort and décor can rank with the finest in Europe today, travel far from the frontiers of Switzerland on through workings such as these. 1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743
4. (US) To take rank of; to outrank.