If you say that the members of a group close ranks, you mean that they are supporting each other only because their group is being criticized. Institutions tend to close ranks when a member has been accused of misconduct
complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers; "absolute freedom"; "an absolute dimwit"; "a downright lie"; "out-and-out mayhem"; "an out-and-out lie"; "a rank outsider"; "many right-down vices"; "got the job through sheer persistence"; "sheer stupidity"
In traditional taxonomy, taxa are ranked according to their level of inclusiveness Thus a genus contains one or more species, a family includes one or more genera, and so on
A rank on a dimension D is simply a set of cells that are connected to each other on D A given cell can only be on one rank on a given dimension
a row or line of people (especially soldiers or police) standing abreast of one another; "the entrance was guarded by ranks of policemen"
Someone's rank is the position or grade that they have in an organization. He eventually rose to the rank of captain The former head of counter-intelligence had been stripped of his rank and privileges
the body of members of an organization or group; "they polled their membership"; "they found dissension in their own ranks"; "he joined the ranks of the unemployed"
indicates the rank order of the genes based on gene expression differences Clicking on the rank number will show you genes that have similar expression profiles, using all of the chips