| 释义 |
tram-road|ˈtræmrəʊd|
[f. tram n.2, sense 2 or 4 (more prob. the former) + road.]
Orig., in mining districts, a road having ‘trams’ or beams of wood, lengths of stone, or later, iron plates or ‘rails’ laid in two parallel lines, to form wheel-tracks for the easier transport of minerals in ‘trams’ or wagons; hence, generally, a track for vehicles thus made; = railway n. 1; in parliamentary language, a special track or narrow railroad for wagons or cars, as distinguished from a tramway laid down for tram-cars on an ordinary road or street. Also attrib.
(The name tram-road has been erroneously stated to be derived from the surname of Mr. Benjamin Outram, an engineer largely engaged in the construction of tram-roads for traffic, in some parts of the country (see quot. 1800). It is not improbable that, in some locality where tram-roads were a novelty, their name may have been associated in folk-etymology or by pre-scientific etymologers with that of the engineer. Unfortunately, the legend was recorded as a fact by S. Smiles in his Life of George Stephenson (1857), p. 59, whence it was quoted and repeated in popular publications, and gained wide currency, although its absurdity, etymologically and otherwise, was clearly pointed out in 1882 by Professor Skeat in his Dictionary of English Etymology.)
[Cf.1793Act 33 Geo. III, c. 96 An Act..for making..Rail Ways and Stone Roads from such Canal to several Iron Works and Mines. 1799Commons Jrnl. LIV. 613/1 A Bill for the making of Ways or Roads, usually called Railways or Dram Roads. Ibid. 664/1.] 1800Agreement 18 Dec. in J. Lloyd Old South Wales Iron Works (1906) 143 The Monmouthshire Canal Company shall..make a good and sufficient tramroad, according to the plans of Benjamin Outram,..Engineer, from the Tredegar Iron Works, to join their Canal near Risca Church. 1804Act 44 Geo. III, c. 55 (title) An Act for making and maintaining a Railway or Tram⁓road from the Town of Swansea, into the Parish of Oyster⁓mouth in the County of Glamorgan. 1818(title) Observations on the Proposed Railway or Tram-road from Stockton to the Collieries, by way of Darlington. 1824T. G. Cumming Rail & Tram Roads 17 Such is the decided preference given to tram roads, that with the exception of about five miles..the whole are upon the tram plate principle. 1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 328/1 Certain Improvements in the Construction of Railroads and Tramroads to facilitate the ascent and descent of Hills and inclined Planes. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 982 The corves descend along the tram⁓roads. Ibid. 994 In the dip-mine a double tram-road is laid. 1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 118/1 Tram-road, a road prepared for the easy transit of trams or waggons, by the insertion, in its surface, of smooth beams of wood, blocks of stone, or plates of iron, as wheel-tracks. 1846R. Ritchie Railways 12 Several tracks of continuous stone rails, usually termed tram roads, have been constructed. 1852J. Wiggins Embanking 63 Good tram-road sleepers may be had at much less money. 1880Disraeli Endym. lxii, Lancashire with..its tramroads and its railroads. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §1091 The amateur will find his scaffold-boards very handy as a temporary tramroad for his barrow to run over. 1885Law Times Rep. LI. 583/1 The tram-road upon which the steam motor was being driven. 1901[see tramway 1 b].
b. fig.
1859A. Sedgwick in Darwin's Life & Lett. (1887) II. 248 After a start in that tram-road of all solid physical truth. 1859G. Meredith R. Feverel xxiii, The young man got on the tramroad of his passion, and went ahead. |