1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Rank

RANK (O.Fr. ranc or renc, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. hring, a ring), a row or line, as of cabs or carriages, but especially of soldiers drawn up abreast in a line; in &ldquo;rank and file&rdquo; the &ldquo;rank&rdquo; is the horizontal line of soldiers, the &ldquo;file&rdquo; the vertical. From the sense of orderly arrangement &ldquo;rank&rdquo; is applied to grades or classes in a social or other organization, and particularly to a high grade, as in such expressions as a &ldquo;person of rank.&rdquo; This word must be distinguished from the adjective &ldquo;rank,&rdquo; over-luxuriant, coarse, strong, generally connected with the Low Ger. rank, thin, tall (cf. Du. rank, upright). The O.E. rinc, warrior, i.e. full-grown man, may be also connected with the word; Skeat refers also to &ldquo;rack,&rdquo; to pull out straight.