Rules refers to a regulation, law, guideline. It commonly describes a ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure, a straight line (continuous mark, as made by a pen or the like), especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing, and a regulating principle, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to the act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control, a normal condition or state of affairs, and conduct; behaviour, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Rules as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Additional shades of meaning include an order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit, a determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result, 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, to regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over, and to excel, which reinforce how the category can stretch across adjacent but still recognizable uses of the same term.
