Other forms: railings
A railing is a fence of upright metal bars. Iron railings, lean on the railing, painted railings.
It guards an edge without blocking the view, which is why it is used on balconies, stairs and quaysides where a solid wall would be worse. Britain melted down vast quantities of iron railings during the Second World War, and many were never replaced. Note handrail; and that railings are usually spoken of in the plural.
1nounrailingA fence of upright metal bars.
“He leaned on the railing of the bridge and watched the boats below.”
railing is a barrier.
Old English
regol
Middle English
rail
English
rail
English, today
railing
Built from
by surface analysis, rail + -ing. rail comes from Middle English rail, from Old English regol. From Middle English rail, rayl, reȝel, reȝol (found in reȝolsticke (“a ruler”)), partly from Old English regol (“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula (“rule, bar”), from regō (“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular. a doublet of regal#Noun and regula and rigol and rule.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA