(rangk) noun
1. A series of objects ranged in a line or row; a range.
2. Degree of official standing, especially in the army and navy. See table under GRADE.
3. A line of soldiers drawn up side by side in close order: distinguished from file.
4. plural An army; also, the mass of soldiery; the order of private soldiers: The colonel rose from the ranks.
5. A row of eight squares on a chessboard extending from the left of the player to the right.
6. Relative position in a scale of dignity or of life; degree; grade: the rank of baronet; the rank of a plant or animal organism.
7. High degree or position; especially, the state of being a member of a titled nobility: a lady of rank.
8. Degree of worth or excellence; relative status. See synonyms under CLASS, SORT.
—v.t.
1. To place or arrange in a rank or ranks.
2. To place in a class, order, etc.; assign to a position or classification.
3. To take precedence of; outrank: Sergeants rank corporals.
—v.i.
4. To hold a specified place or rank: His poetry ranks with the best.
5. To have the highest rank or grade. [<OF ranc. renc <Gmc. Doublet of RANGE.]

(rangk) adjective
1. Very vigorous and flourishing in growth as from fertilization or moisture.
2. Strong and disagreeable to the taste or smell.
3. Excessive or immoderate, in unfavorable sense: rank injustice.
4. Producing a luxuriant growth; fertile.
5. Law Inequitable; excessive.
6. Strong or deep: said of a cut or the adjustment of the tool making a cut.
7. Obs. In heat; lustful. [OE ranc strong]
—rank′ly adverb
—rank′ness noun