rule

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior

   It was their rule to take a walk before breakfast.

2. 2
   noun

   a standard procedure for solving a class of mathematical problems

   The student determined the upper bound with Descartes' rule of signs.

3. 3
   noun

   any one of a systematic body of regulations defining the way of life of members of a religious order

   the rule of St. Dominic

4. 4
   noun

   directions that define the way a game or sport is to be conducted

   I know the rules of chess.

5. 5
   noun

   the duration of a monarch's or government's power

   during the rule of Elizabeth

6. 6
   verb

   keep in check

   rule one's temper

7. 7
   verb

   mark or draw with a ruler

   rule the margins

8. 8
   noun

   A regulation, law, guideline.

   All participants must adhere to the rules.

Etymology

From Middle English reule, rewle, rule, borrowed from Old French riule, reule, from Latin regula (“straight stick, bar, ruler, pattern”), from regō (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃réǵeti (“to straighten; right”), from the root *h₃reǵ-; see regent. Doublet of rail, regal, regula, and rigol.