range

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a place for shooting (firing or driving) projectiles of various kinds

   the army maintains a missile range in the desert

2. 2
   noun

   an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: 'the range of a supersonic jet'

   a piano has a greater range than the human voice

3. 3
   noun

   a variety of different things or activities

   The speaker answered a range of questions.

4. 4
   noun

   the limits within which something can be effective

   range of motion

5. 5
   noun

   a large tract of grassy open land on which livestock can graze

   they used to drive the cattle across the open range every spring

6. 6
   noun

   a series of hills or mountains

   the valley was between two ranges of hills

7. 7
   verb

   let eat

   range the animals in the prairie

8. 8
   verb

   change or be different within limits

   Estimates for the losses in the earthquake range as high as $2 billion

Etymology

From Middle English rengen, from Old French rengier (“to range, to rank, to order,”), from the noun renc, reng, ranc, rang (“a rank, row”), from Frankish *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring, circle, curve”). Doublet of ring.