Definition of "rule"

rule¹

/ɹuːl/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural rules
1. A regulation, law, guideline.
  Quotations
  We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of our lives.
  a. 1694, John Tillotson, Of The Obligations of Christians to a Holy Life
  The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
  2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68
2. A regulating principle.
  Quotations
  There's little can be said in 't; 'Tis against the rule of nature.
  c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
3. The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
  Quotations
  Obey them that have the rule over you.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Hebrews 13:17
  His stern rule the groaning land obeyed.
  1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot
4. A normal condition or state of affairs.
5. (obsolete) Conduct; behaviour.
  Quotations
  This uncivil rule; she shall know of it.
  c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii]
6. (law) An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.
7. (mathematics) A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.
8. A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.
  Quotations
  As we may observe in the Works of Art, a Judicious Artist will indeed use his Eye, but he will trust only to his Rule.
  a. 1716, Robert South, Sermons‎
  It is not right to pervert the judge by moving him to anger or envy or pity—one might as well warp a carpenter's rule before using it.
  1981, Aristotle, “Rhetoric, the Counterpart of Dialectic”, in W. Rhys Roberts, Ingram Bywater, transl., Rhetoric and On Poetics, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library
9. A straight line (continuous mark, as made by a pen or the like), especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing.
10. (printing, dated) A thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work.

rule²

/ɹuːl/

verb
third-person singular simple present rules, present participle ruling, simple past and past participle ruled
1. (transitive, stative) To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.
  Quotations
  And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
2. (slang, intransitive, stative) To excel.
3. (intransitive) To decide judicially.
  Quotations
  The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
  2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10
4. (transitive) To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.
  Quotations
  That's a ruled case with the school-men.
  1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater
5. (transitive) To mark (paper or the like) with rules (lines).

rule³

/ɹuːl/

noun
1. (obsolete) Revelry.
verb
third-person singular simple present rules, present participle ruling, simple past and past participle ruled
1. (obsolete, intransitive) To revel.

Definition of "rule"

rule1

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rule2

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rule3

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rule¹

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rule³