railroadn.
/ˈreɪlrəʊd/, U.S. /ˈreɪlˌroʊd/ Now chiefly U.S. (See note on usage at railway n.)
1. = railway n. 1. Now historical.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road laid with parallel planks, slabs, or rails > [noun] > laid with rails
railway1681
railroad1757
plate railway1825
plateway1825
road railway1850
strap road1861
strap railroad1909
1757 in Trans. Hon. Soc. Cymmrodorion 1897–98 (1899) 31 Laying rails or making a railroad to the pits from the main or great road.
1771 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1769 29 The collieries lie at different distances..and the coal is brought down in waggons along rail roads.
1775 Smeaton Rep. (1837) II. 411 It seems perfectly practicable to carry the coals upon a rail-road.
1805 Trans. Soc. Arts 23 318 A horse employed on a rail~road.
1832 Act 2 & 3 William IV c. 64 Sched. O. 40 Along Smithsons railroad to the point at which the same meets the Dewsbury road.
1890 Dict. National Biogr. XXIII. 28/1 He had seen Blenkinsopp's famous locomotive at work on the Middleton cogged railroad.
1898 Dict. National Biogr. LIV. 184/2 The proprietors of Hetton colliery laid down..a rail-road eight miles in length.
1950 J. D. Galloway First Transcontinental Railroad iii. 20 On the first railroads, horse-drawn passenger cars were made with a boxlike enclosure resting on four wheels and without springs.
1999 S. Biagi Touring Cabot Trail 66/1 A horsedrawn mining railroad used to run its entire length to a shipping pier in Lingan Harbour.
2.
a. = railway n. 2. Also in the names of railroad companies and networks, as Metro-North Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, etc. Cf. road n. 4d.Also as the second element in compounds, as cable-, elevated, underground railroad, etc.: see the first element.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun]
railway1822
railroad1824
road1825
rail1840
R1850
pike1940
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > a railway
railway1681
railroad1824
rail line1825
road1825
car line1833
chemin de fer1835
line1861
pike1940
1813 R. Edgeworth Let. 7 Aug. in J. P. Muirhead Origin & Progress Mech. Inventions J. Watt (1854) III. 341 An iron rail-road would be a cheaper thing than a road on the common construction.]
1824 F. Witts Diary 6 May (1981) 37 The Stafford railroad will be completed in December next.
1825 W. Scott Let. 23 Mar. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1837) VI. 13 He started the topic of our intended railroad... I had at my finger end ever(y) cut, every lift, every degree of elevation or depression, every pass in the country.
1825 T. Tredgold Pract. Treat. Rail-roads & Carriages i. 15 The Surrey rail-road commences on the south bank of the Thames, near Wandsworth..and proceeds..to Croydon, and from thence..to Merstham, making a total distance of about 18 miles.
1830 M. Edgeworth Let. 18 Oct. (1971) 419 A regular communication goes on now by trains of cars on this railroad backwards and forwards to Liverpool and Manchester.
1835 T. Moore Mem. (1856) VII. 95 To Liverpool by the railroad; a grand mode of travelling.
1838 C. Darwin Let. 7 Aug. in Corr. (1986) II. 94 I was altogether disappointed with the railroad.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 309 Your railroad..is only a device for making the world smaller.
1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age xvii. 163 Yes, this is the railroad, all but the rails and the iron-horse.
1876 R. Routledge Discov. & Inventions 19th Cent. 62 The idea of a perfect railroad is that of a straight and level line from one terminus to another.
1903 H. Keller Story of my Life i. xi. 44 At the foot of the mountain there was a railroad, and the children watched the trains whiz by.
1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear ii. vi. 271 Five big corporations and the two railroads have taken the thing up in dead earnest.
1949 Sun (Baltimore) 28 Sept. 14/5 I came along the old railroad to town this morning.
1959 I. Gershwin Lyrics on Several Occasions 314 After the previous day's closing the Supreme Court had made some decision favorable to the railroad, and the stock had opened at 108 and was heading higher.
1976 New Yorker 16 Feb. 75/1 Here, at last, is an explanation of why the railroads in the United States have been decaying.
1988 J. M. McPherson Battle Cry of Freedom xvii. 515 In 1862 the dependence of Union armies on railroads proved as much curse as blessing.
2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon xxxv. 529 The crew extending the railroad got close enough to deliver the cement and rebar to create a real commercial-quality airport.
b. figurative. A well-defined or restricted path or way; a predestined route. Frequently in railroad of life.
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the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > [noun] > continuous progress or advance of anything > course in which anything progresses
channel1631
railroada1838
a1838 L. E. Landon Life & Lit. Remains II. (1841) 92 To be as indifferent as you can possibly contrive—to aim only at present amusement and passing popularity—is the best system for a steamcoach along the railroad of life.
1847 W. Hamilton Let. to De Morgan 5 Mathematicians..leaving the level railroad of their own [science].
1870 in J. Strouse Alice James (1981) vii. 142 Good wishes..and a prosperous jaunt o'er the rail-road of life!
1993 M. Castro Homeopathy for Pregnancy 38/1 I see birth rather like a station on the railroad of life: you get off the train to have your baby and then embark on the journey again.
2002 L. DeSalvo in L. DeSalvo & E. Giunta Milk of Almonds 327 My mother decided it was time for her to go to a nursing home, that final stop on the railroad of life's journey.
c. In plural. Shares in a railway company.Speculation on and investment in railway companies was at its height during the period of railway expansion in the mid to late 19th cent.
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society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > share > shares in specific country or industry
railway share1822
railroad shares1828
railway stock1836
railroads1848
Canada1868
coalers1878
Mets1886
industrial1887
golds1888
Kaffir1889
electrics1892
rails1893
Westralians1894
kangaroo1896
coppers1899
the junglea1901
electricals1901
Rhodesians1901
diamonds1905
Siberians1906
steels1912
utility1930
properties1964
engineer1976
mining1983
1848 J. J. Ruskin Let. 17 Mar. in M. Lutyens Ruskins & Grays (1972) xi. 98 If you do not..deceive yourself or are led to plunge farther into Railroads—your situation is much better than I expected.
1877 H. James American iii. 43 Successful in copper,..only so-so in railroads, and a hopeless fizzle in oil.
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker i. 16 Confine yourself to a safe, conservative business in railroads.
1964 Financial Times 12 Mar. 3/1 All the Dow Jones Indices made headway, with new all-time closing peaks again recorded by Industrials and Railroads.
d. U.S. regional (chiefly New York). A style of flat consisting of a series of rooms arranged in a line, esp. with the rooms opening directly into one another without a hallway. Chiefly attributive, esp. in railroad apartment, railroad flat.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > flat or apartment > type of
studio flat1882
studio apartment1884
mansard1886
penthouse1892
single end1897
walk-up1907
railroad flat1908
simplex1912
service flat1913
studio1918
kitchenette1920
duplex1922
garden flat1922
flatlet1925
show flat1929
quadruplex1939
council flat1941
garden apartment1942
walk-back1945
multilevel1959
tower apartment1961
condominium1962
triplex1962
condo1984
1908 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 1 Mar. (headline) Tenement house law—what it means to New Yorkers who formerly lived in the..ill ventilated fire traps of ‘dumbbell’ and ‘railroad’ type.
1909 N.Y. Times 4 Apr. 12/5 The boys..come from the crowded ‘flat house’ districts, living in a few tiny rooms or a ‘railroad’ flat.
1914 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News 29 Aug. 12/5 They wanted a railroad apartment with a hall that ran the entire length of the building.
1943 B. Smith Tree grows in Brooklyn xv. 113 Four rooms made up the new flat. They led one into the other and were called railroad rooms.
1956 B. Malamud in New Yorker 22 Sept. 149/1 A five-room railroad flat above a butcher store.
1998 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 26 July 8 $850 for a one-bedroom railroad on Sackett St.
2003 N.Y. Times 29 June 14 It was a..railroad apartment. I could lie on my bed and see my bathroom four rooms away.
3. figurative and in extended use: = railway n. 3.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > wheel > [noun] > rails for facilitating motion of wheels
railway1825
railroad1852
1852 C. Fox Mem. Old Friends (1882) 276 The speculum [of Lord Rosse's telescope]..has its own little railroad, over which it runs into the cannon's mouth.
2002 Hotdog Feb. 43/2 Pint-sized charmer Ben went back to school with Luke Skywalker hair and a railroad across the front of his face.
2004 P. Craig Hot Plastic 106 A girl from Minnesota, with a railroad of steel in her mouth, wanted to show him her appendix scar.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
railroad agent n.
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1840 Family Mag. 1 May 83/1 You will repent never having turned your back on railroad agents.
1997 E. F. Bolten Managing Time & Space in Mod. Warehouse 46 The receiver gives the railroad agent, or railroad switching crew, instructions for the actual placement of cars.
railroad bill n.
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1829 Albion 24 Jan. 261/2 Raleigh talks of rail-road bills.
1868 Oregon State Jrnl. 8 June 2/3 The Oregon people are still grinding away on the railroad bill.
2003 M. J. Hershock Paradox of Progress iv. 93 Shoemaker reported out a general railroad bill from his committee, but Joy and the Michigan Central proved equal to the task of defeating it.
railroad bookstand n.
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1847 F. A. Kemble Let. in Rec. Later Life (1882) III. 289 One of those pale green volumes headed, ‘Reading for Travellers’, to be found on all the railroad bookstands.
1973 L. Hellman Pentimento 240 He was a rich American drunk who threw away all his money and died in a Paris garret in a novel Arthur had once bought at a French railroad bookstand.
railroad box-car n.
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1913 Washington Post 20 Aug. 1/2 Those who can get a railroad boxcar for a home consider themselves lucky, as hundreds use trees for their only shelter.
1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 4 July 1- c/3 ‘Beet shacks’ vary in luxury. But few are as primitive as the old railroad boxcars that once housed migrants and still dot the area.
2003 T. Cullen Roamin' Wyomin' iii. 68 The first depot, a railroad boxcar at Blairtown, was moved later to Rock Springs.
railroad brakeman n.
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1860 N.Y. Times 30 Jan. 1/2 Hartley, the Hudson River Railroad brakeman, was arrested this morning by Deputy-Sheriff Proseus.]
1861 Chicago Tribune 28 Mar. 3 (headline) Comfort and safety of railroad brakemen.
1976 Washington Post 19 Apr. c1/2 When Mack was born in 1902 in Greeley, Colo., his father, a railroad brakeman, named him William Edward Maguiness.
2005 C. Bolton Hardest Deal of All iv. 99 Natalie's father, a railroad brakeman, had been involved in a lawsuit in the 1940s to equalize employment opportunities.
railroad bridge n.
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1829 Niles' Weekly Reg. 7 Nov. 171/2 (heading) Lloyd's rail road bridge.
1891 Times 3 Sept. 3/1 They were charged with being engaged in a plot to blow up the railroad bridges.
2003 New Yorker 15 Dec. 76/3 The Nashua was clear, smooth, and fast—not white water but a firm current coming through a railroad bridge.
railroad camp n.
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1860 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Courier 21 Dec. Last Tuesday we visited the Railroad camp, on the line of the Oshkosh & Wausau road, where we found the happiest lot of hard-working men on earth.
a1927 F. M. Canton Frontier Trails (1930) ii. 33 Stolen cattle were driven into railroad camps and sold to contractors at half their value.
2002 D. Gess & W. Lutz Firestorm at Peshtigo 68 Out near the railroad camp, John McGregor had no intention of leaving.
railroad car n.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage
rail wagon1824
railway wagon1824
wagon1825
car1826
railway car1828
railroad car1829
railcar1833
steam-car1833
road car1834
motor car1878
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > carriage designed to carry passengers
steam-carriage1788
railway carriage1824
carriage1825
railroad carriage1826
railroad car1829
railroad coach1829
rail carriage1831
coach1832
passenger car1832
steam-car1833
passenger carriage1838
passenger coach1841
day coach1869
bogie1919
clockwork orange1978
1829 Souvenir 11 Feb. 261/1 A new mode of applying friction rollers to a railroad car, has been invented by a citizen of New Jersey, which produces truly astonishing results.
1923 C. R. Cooper Under Big Top i. 4 A circus..has its own railroad cars.
1991 S. Seddon Travel 105 The private American railroad car, popular with tycoons between 1890 and the Second World War, was the ultimate status symbol of the traveller.
railroad carriage n.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > carriage designed to carry passengers
steam-carriage1788
railway carriage1824
carriage1825
railroad carriage1826
railroad car1829
railroad coach1829
rail carriage1831
coach1832
passenger car1832
steam-car1833
passenger carriage1838
passenger coach1841
day coach1869
bogie1919
clockwork orange1978
1826 H. Sanderson Considerations on Proposed Communication by Navigable Canal 43 The weight of a railroad carriage is generally one third of the weight of its load.
1915 R. H. Davis Somewhere in France 16 Beside her in the railroad carriage, on the station platforms, at the windows of the trains that passed..she had seen only the gray-green uniforms.
2004 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) (Nexis) 5 Nov. His father, George, struggled to support his wife and eight children by painting railroad carriages.
railroad charge n.
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1835 Hazard's Reg. Pennsylvania 28 Mar. 79/1 Produce cannot be transported for this sum from here to Baltimore (or to Frederick with rail road charges added).
1959 A. R. Daum & H. F. Williamson Amer. Petroleum Industry 819 An individual state could regulate railroad charges on traffic passing through its territory to or from points outside the state.
2001 A. M. T. Cammarota Pavements in Garden vii. 130 A single trolley fare of eight cents included a three-cent transfer onto the Pennsylvania Railroad Ferry, and represented a four-cent saving over the railroad charge.
railroad coach n.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > carriage designed to carry passengers
steam-carriage1788
railway carriage1824
carriage1825
railroad carriage1826
railroad car1829
railroad coach1829
rail carriage1831
coach1832
passenger car1832
steam-car1833
passenger carriage1838
passenger coach1841
day coach1869
bogie1919
clockwork orange1978
1829 Niles' Weekly Reg. 26 Sept. 78/2 The rail road coaches, carriages, &c.
1916 M. Fuller New Eng. Childhood iv. 40 He rode in a railroad coach; then a stranger helped him into a horse car.
2005 San Antonio (Texas) Express-News (Nexis) 31 Aug. 12 a A private company that charters trips on refurbished railroad coaches.
railroad companion n.
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1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain 363 The troubled thoughts from which his railroad companion had extricated him.
1998 A. C. Colley Nostalgia & Recoll. Victorian Culture iv. 96 During their conversation Mr Bell informs his railroad companion that Margaret has a brother.
railroad company n.
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1815 New Jersey Acts 69 The New-Jersey Rail Road Company. Said president and directors so to be chosen shall be called The New-Jersey Rail Road Company.
1903 E. Johnson Amer. Railway Transportation 73 The railroad company derives its powers from a charter granted to it by the State.
2001 R. Jackson Rails across Mississippi xvii. 189 The court ruled that the railroad company had a right to lay the tracks where they were and to use them as they had been used in the past.
railroad conductor n.
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1839 New Bedford (Mass.) Mercury 18 Oct. 2/6 A number of people in Lynn, became considerably excited on Saturday last, in an attempt to force the railroad conductors to admit a black man into the common passenger ca[r]s.
1942 E. Paul Narrow Street vii. 61 The time came for Mariette to marry the railroad conductor of her choice.
2006 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 31 Dec. g14 Her fiance is a railroad conductor employed by CSX.
railroad conveyance n.
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1825 N. Wood Pract. Treat. Railroads Introd. 1 The acknowledged importance of Railroad conveyance.
1958 N.Y. Times 27 Aug. 25/7 One of those 53-year-old ‘el’ railroad conveyances was installed today in St. Louis County's National Museum of Transport.
railroad crew n.
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1880 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Sentinel 14 Oct. Taylor was a member of the railroad crew which manned the freight train.
1976 Times 23 July 11/6 Buffalo Bill..had been..buffalo hunter for a contractor supplying food to the Kansas Pacific railroad crews.
2003 B. Solomon Railroad Signaling 132/2 Similarly, when a railroad crew receives authority, it must be copied verbatim on a standard form.
railroad depot n.
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1835 Cincinnati Mirror 17 Jan. 99/3 There lately arrived at Railroad depot at Charleston, S.C. at one time, three locomotive engines.
1881 Harper's Mag. Jan. 184/1 Old Joel Zane..lived near the Christiana River, at a spot now occupied by a railroad dépôt.
1933 Manufacturing Chemist Nov. 41/1 Assorted Sour Balls (purchased in a railroad depot, Boston, Mass.).
2004 C. Bateman Driving Big Davie xx. 200 We laboured past a Spanish-style railroad depot and a frame community church.
railroad detective n.
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1863 N.Y. Observer 30 July 247/1 Railroad detective S. V. R. Brayton traced the robber to Utica, and arrested him, recovering $4,376 in paper money, and $3180 in gold.
1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side i. 25 For ten years now this tightly wound woman with the snowdrifted hair had been serving section hands, firemen, railroad detectives..conductors, and truck drivers.
2005 R. A. Lee Farmers vs. Wage Earners iii. 86 A railroad detective from St. Louis was helping them, all the while composing a list of strikers involved in what he called destruction of property.
railroad engine n.
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1834 Mechanics' Mag. 16 Aug. 110/2 The effective adhesive power of the six-ton railroad engine will only be sufficient for a load of 2,320 lbs.
1912 Times 16 May 19/5 It [sc. oil fuel] had practically displaced coal..for..stationary steam engines, as well as for railroad engines.
2002 Barron's 22 Apr. 19/2 Originally designed for railroad engines, Delphi's diesel technology is being transferred to autos.
railroad engineer n.
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1840 J. Smith in New-Yorker 7 Mar. 390/2 The Railroad Engineer.
1942 Z. N. Hurston Dust Tracks on Road xii. 229 De white man..he was a railroad engineer.
1992 M. Field & M. Golubitsky Symmetry in Chaos iv. 113 This..explains why railroad engineers might be interested in asymmetric chaotic motion.
railroad equipment n.
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1854 Amer. Railway Times 2 Mar. 1/7 The Western railroad equipment could be changed for freight engines having 18 by 24 inch cylinders and 54 inch wheels.
1912 E. Hungerford Mod. Railroad xxiv. 399 With the wooden car still a factor in railroad equipment, the carpenter has not yet lost his vocation in the shops.
2001 B. Solomon Railway Maintenance Equipm. ii. 25 The large cars are self-sufficient, and they are among the last examples of railroad equipment fitted with living spaces for the crew.
railroad fare n.
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1837 New-Yorker 14 Oct. 467/2 Railroad fare from Richmond to Fredericksburg, 61 miles, $4.
1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xi. 237 He sent the railroad fare in the letter.
2004 Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota) 16 May g8 Italy's railroad fares are among Europe's lowest.
railroad hotel n.
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1834 Aurora 1 Oct. 129/3 A meeting of the Delegates..will be held at the house of Henry Berrell, Rail-Road Hotel, on Saturday.
1939 ‘N. West’ Day of Locust vii. 43 After living for a week in a railroad hotel in Los Angeles, he rented a cottage in Pinyon Canyon.
2003 L. Treese Railroads of Pennsylvania 113 Not exactly a railroad hotel, the Bush House was built by Daniel G. Bush, a salesman who became one of Bellefonte's key real estate developers.
railroad land n.
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1847 Zion's Herald & Wesleyan Jrnl. 25 Aug. 134/4 Prosecute the work as fast as the proceeds of the sale of the railroad land would warrant.
1908 Pacific Monthly Jan. 6/1 The people on the railroad lands began to want deeds.
2003 C. Strom Profiting from Plains 34 He used railroad land as a showcase for the benefits of drainage.
railroad line n.
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1834 Mechanics' Mag. Mar. 185/2 Having been personally engaged in tracing the various curves for railroad lines..I was induced to enter into an investigation of certain formulas.
1901 R. A. Alger Spanish-Amer. War xxi. 369 Malolos and the railroad line south to Manila have been held continuously since by our forces.
2005 R. C. Carpenter Railroad Atlas U.S. in 1946 II. 198 The only railroad line on this map which survives today..is the Lamoille Valley Railroad.
railroad man n.
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1838 Huntress 8 Dec. 3/1 On Sunday morning, a railroad man called Jem, went into the inn at west Haddon.
1881 Harper's Mag. Jan. 320/2 Among the passengers was a good-natured fellow, a railroad man.
2000 J. R. Green Straight Lick vi. 94 When the railroad man appears in the Harlem scenes, he appears as the owner of a nightclub called the Autumn Leaf Social Club.
railroad map n.
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1834 Mechanics' Mag. 25 Oct. 255/2 One has only to open his eyes upon your new Railroad Map, which should be in the hands of every friend to internal improvement.
1976 J. Lee Ninth Man 70 He would need railroad maps and timetables.
2003 D. A. Van Beek et al. Everything your Kindergartner Needs 281 Help your student obtain a railroad map and trace the rail route that goes closest to the destination.
railroad omnibus n.
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1851 N.-Y. Daily Times 2 Oct. 2/3 A few..of the property holders on the avenue thus made, supposing their sites..may become more valuable by the exclusion of locomotives, and the consequent forced establishment of a railroad-omnibus line..succeeded in procuring passage of an Ordinance.
1858 C. M. Yonge Christmas Mummers i. 9 They had actually hopes of being able to hire the railroad omnibus.
1916 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 5 July 6/3 According to W. M. Davis, superintendent of the Cincinnati railroad omnibus company the strike of the drivers of the company which was declared June 14 was settled today.
railroad pass n.
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society > travel > rail travel > [noun] > train ticket > pass
railway pass1854
railroad pass1857
railway warrant1861
railcard1975
1857 Daily Courier (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 14 May 2/1 A Buffalo Jew, pretending to be deaf and dumb, got a railroad pass at Syracuse, for Buffalo, through the sympathy that he drew out from the Superintendent.
1976 New Yorker 15 Nov. 41/3 They also included bookplates, letterheads, railroad passes, commercial paperweights and music sheets.
2001 R. A. Hogarty Leon Abbet's New Jersey 10 They extended free railroad passes to public officials and persuaded governors to appoint judges who were friendly toward their interests.
railroad police n.
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1860 N.Y. Times 20 Jan. 3/1 Visitors to the city..have not failed to notice the marked degree of order which now prevails..as contrasted with the confusion which existed prior to the organization of the Steamboat and Railroad Police.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon in Cosmopolitan July 241/1 Up Pine Street..was coming a rush of railroad police..firing as they ran.
1997 Independent 7 June (Mag.) 31/1 There are brakemen and yard workers willing to help you, but the ‘bulls’, the railroad police, will want to order you out of the yard and/or fine you $325, because train-hopping remains illegal.
railroad president n.
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1852 N.-Y. Daily Times 22 July 1/2 If the Railroads increase as they have done of late, the Railroad Presidents may seriously think of competing with the doctors for the highest number of professors in their several arts.
1949 Chicago Daily News 9 Aug. 10/5 His chance of becoming an American railroad president is probably about one in ten million.
2003 T. Hartmann in R. Kick Abuse Your Illusions 128/1 The Court's reporter, a former railroad president named J.C. Bancroft Davis, opened the headnote.
railroad security n.
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1850 Hartford (Connecticut) Daily Courant 24 Jan. 2/6 It is currently reported in the street that a large loan..has been effected in England upon some of our Railroad securities.
1912 T. Dreiser Financier xxx. 340 Railroad securities..were considered weak under the present circumstances.
2002 J. W. Markham Financial Hist. U.S. I. iii. 158 Winslow, Lanier & Co. became a leading investment house in New York specializing in railroad securities.
railroad shares n.
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society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > share > shares in specific country or industry
railway share1822
railroad shares1828
railway stock1836
railroads1848
Canada1868
coalers1878
Mets1886
industrial1887
golds1888
Kaffir1889
electrics1892
rails1893
Westralians1894
kangaroo1896
coppers1899
the junglea1901
electricals1901
Rhodesians1901
diamonds1905
Siberians1906
steels1912
utility1930
properties1964
engineer1976
mining1983
1828 N.-Y. Mirror, & Ladies' Lit. Gaz. 15 Mar. 288/2 I ask the price of rail-road shares.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 9/2 All the steam has gone out of American Railroad shares.
2003 O. Parry Bold Sons of Erin 190 Nor was I guiltless myself, I will admit, for my railroad shares had earned a tidy profit.
railroad spur n.
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1882 N.Y. Times 25 Apr. 8/5 It has been decided to open the new Midland Railroad spur into Paterson next Monday.]
1883 Los Angeles Daily Times 14 Aug. 4/6 This week a railroad spur will be run from Laguna Station directly to it.
1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline xvi. 191 A nest of research buildings, manufacturing plants, experimental laboratories, planning divisions, and railroad spurs.
2002 Star-Herald (Scottsbluff, Nebraska) 9 Apr. 1/4 It has been selected because of a railroad spur that would be necessary for operation.
railroad station n.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > station
station1830
station house1833
train depot1833
railway station1836
railroad station1837
depot1842
rail station1848
rail1850
train station1856
gare1870
1837 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 77/2 Entrance to a Rail~road Station.
1923 R. Herrick Homely Lilla xi. 172 She passed the county building on her way from the railroad station.
2001 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 2 Nov. 34/1 When flooding from Hurricane Agnes tore through Ellicott City nearly 30 years ago, it threatened the nation's oldest railroad station, wiped out tracks and damaged its structures off Main Street.
railroad town n.
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1849 Amer. Literary Mag. Mar. 578 In the burial ground of the railroad town of Crewe an indistinguishable row of little slabs mark the spot where the dead sleep.
1923 H. A. Franck Wandering Northern China vi. 94 Up the hill..is the more commodious railroad town, with important offices, the better-class residences [etc.].
2000 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Jrnl. 11 Nov. 1/4 Not that they needed prodding to head to Siciliano's, located in a close-knit, predominantly Italian-American neighborhood in what was then a bustling mill and railroad town.
railroad train n.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > train
train1814
railway train1834
railroad train1836
train1841
rail train1843
train wreck1876
train set1959
1836 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 30 382 The vibrating effects of a passing rail road train.
1922 C. Sandburg in Bookman (U.S.) 55 151 The little flivs of women, ready to throw themselves in front of railroad trains for men they love.
1987 K. Vonnegut Bluebeard (1988) iv. 30 I was about to board a railroad train.
2002 Frederick (Maryland) News-Post 27 Nov. b14/1 It was blowing like a railroad train at three this morning.
railroad travelling n.
ΚΠ
1830 Reg. of Pennsylvania 2 Jan. 13/2 The proposed bridge at Peters' Island will be taken and built by a company who will give the free passage to the State of all the Rail Road travelling, for the right to take tolls from other travellers.
1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. iv. 111 The whole system of railroad travelling is addressed to people, who, being in a hurry, are therefore, for the time being, miserable.
1971 Greeley (Colorado) Daily Tribune 6 July 2/6 You have been struck by siderodromophobia, the fear of railroad traveling.
railroad tunnel n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > tunnel
railway tunnel1827
railroad tunnel1836
tube1847
1836 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 29 73 The length of this Rail Road tunnel is eight hundred and seventy-seven feet.
1854 W. M. Thackeray Let. 18 July (1946) III. 378 As in the railroad tunnels..we get deeper and deeper plunging into the dark and the bright spot we set out from grows fainter and fainter.
1994 Amer. Scientist Oct. 409/1 His own two-mile-long railroad tunnel through the oolite ridge at Box.
railroad whistle n.
ΚΠ
1844 Rover 3 335/2 If we should happen to strike a volcano in boring through the mountains, it might be so much the better, as it might help to get up the steam, and perhaps answer for a great railroad whistle.
1865 B. Brierley Irkdale I. ii. 26 It edges my teeth wurr nor a railroad whistle.
2000 Frederick (Maryland) Post 12 Feb. b1/3 You can almost hear the railroad whistle blowing as it goes down the track.
b. Objective.
railroad building n.
ΚΠ
1835 Friend 24 Jan. 124/2 The viaducts and inclined planes of this road, and the road itself, certainly are the very perfection of rail road building.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 417/1 In many cases railroad building has made the settlement of the public lands possible for the first time.
2002 J. A. Williams Appalachia ii. 152 History belongs to those who control the roads, but the road as it emerged from the first generation of railroad building in Appalachia was not controllable.
railroad director n.
ΚΠ
1837 Trumpet & Universalist Mag. 7 Oct. 63/3 The railroad directors have passed a vote requesting the engineer to make inquiries into the circumstances of the families of the unfortunate men, with a view of affording pecuniary aid.
1910 J. J. Hill Highways of Progress xiii. 264 Any man could name several corporations that declare annually dividends to an amount which no railroad director would dare to propose.
2002 V. B. Troeger & R. J. McEwen Woodbridge, NJ vii. 72 A locomotive pulling three baggage cars and four passenger cars carrying the railroad director and important guests.
railroad manager n.
ΚΠ
1837 Waldie's Literary Omnibus 18 Aug. 8/2 Since the Providence and Boston railroad managers were mulcted in pretty heavy damages in a similar case, a very praiseworthy care has been observable in their proceedings.
1907 E. Root Citizen's Part in Govt. iv. 109 A higher standard is asserting itself, which recognizes the scrupulous obligation of trusteeship on the part of the railroad manager.
2005 R. A. Lee Farmers vs. Wage Earners ii. 49 On March 16 Irons asked Hoxie to meet with a committee of Knights, but the railroad manager responded negatively.
railroad proprietor n.
ΚΠ
1834 Farmer, Gardener, & Live-stock Breeder 4 Nov. 1/3 A contract to carry to Charleston or Savannah..would..secure to the rail-road proprietors, $500,000 per annum.
1884 Freeborn County Standard (Albert Lea, Minnesota) 21 May This bank is presided over by George L. Seney, the great railroad proprietor, philanthropist and speculator.
1906 A. B. Hart Slavery & Abolition iii. 42 Michigan set out to construct two public lines across the state, and from 1837 till 1846, when the roads were sold, was a railroad proprietor.
railroad-wrecking n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1876 Chicago Tribune 23 Aug. 4/6 (heading) More of Tilden's railroad wrecking.
1898 Engin. Mag. 16 71 The railroad-wrecking plant, especially the heavier types of steam derricks, will be found of great value.
1994 W. Marvel Andersonville v. 151 Five regiments of Yankee cavalry were just finishing up a day and a half of railroad wrecking.
C2. † railroad creeper n. Obsolete rare = railway creeper n. at railway n. Compounds 2.
railroad bull n. U.S. slang a member of a railroad police force.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > policeman > on railways
railroad bull1897
railway bull1957
1897 N.Y. Times 18 Sept. 3 He said that there were railroad ‘bulls’ (armed officials) at every station, to intercept ‘hobos’.
1941 S. Longstreet Last Man around World xxxiii. 357 Hobo and railroad bull..and people who once shook hands with Warren G. Harding..fill the land.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West i. ii. 40 And as they grew older they matched their wits against the railroad bulls, hopping off and on the freights in displays of daring.
railroad bunk-car n. a sleeping car used as accommodation for railroad workers.
ΚΠ
1911 Lincoln (Nebraska) Evening News 26 Sept. 4/6 He and Mike Petaris, a Mexican, gambled for the clothes of the other in a railroad bunk car.
1961 H. Garner Ten for Wednesday Night 131 It had probably been some native-born jerk in a railroad bunk-car or construction boarding-house..who had named him.
2001 L. Lester Black Baseball's National Showcase 65 Paige and his new bride..were denied lodgings and had to live in Churchill's abandoned railroad bunk car.
railroad commission n. a committee appointed to guard the public interest in relation to railroads.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > commission > other types of commission
conservacy1434
conservice1571
conservation1580
conservancy1618
Royal Commission1747
county commission1763
railroad commission1855
Audit Commission1866
European Commission1956
Countryside Commission1964
Truth and Reconciliation Commission1990
Truth Commission1991
1855 N.-Y. Daily Times 24 Jan. 4/3 He recommends, also, the establishment of a Railroad Commission, consisting of the Comptroller, State Engineer, and a third person to be elected by the stock and bond holders.
1887 Statutes at Large U.S.A. XXIV. 384 Investigate any complaint forwarded by the railroad commissioner or railroad commission of any State or Territory.
1913 R. M. La Follette Autobiogr. vi. 238 He was now making a dogged fight for a railroad commission to regulate rates.
2006 M. Aldrich Death rode Rails v. 142 In 1872, Ohio's railroad commission employed the civil engineer William S. Williams to inspect railroad bridges.
railroad commissioner n. an official appointed to guard the public interest in relation to railroads.
ΚΠ
1827 Christian Reg. (Boston) 8 Sept. 143/4 It is stated, in the Northampton Gazette, that the Rail Road commissioners were in Springfield on Friday last.
1845 Massachusetts Acts & Resolves 582 The Governor..shall appoint..five persons, who shall, together, constitute ‘the Board of Rail-road Commissioners’.
1946 S. H. Holbrook Lost Men Amer. Hist. xii. 262 He was made railroad commissioner of Iowa.
1996 Nation (N.Y.) 25 Nov. 8/2 We also elected some railroad commissioners, who more or less—mostly less—regulate the oil bidness [sic].
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > climbing or creeping plants > non-British climbing or creeping plants > [noun] > Asian or Indian
tiger's-foot1799
railroad creeper1891
railway creeper1895
1891 R. Kipling & W. Balestier Naulahka v, in Cent. Mag. Dec. 190/2 The mauve railroad-creeper on the station.
railroad cut n. an excavation cut into a hillside for laying train tracks.
ΚΠ
1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 198 The surrounding hills are remarkably full of the same kind of stones, so that they have been obliged to pile them up in walls on both sides of the railroad cut.
1862 in F. Moore Rebellion Rec. (1863) V. ii. 403/1 On Friday morning we held the ridge, in front of which runs an incomplete railroad-cut.
1989 C. R. Wilson & W. Ferris Encycl. Southern Culture 90/2 In 1936..Lamar Dodd was appointed to the art faculty of the University of Georgia after winning an award..for a painting depicting a slag dump and railroad cut.
2003 J. Hall Stand of U.S. Army at Gettysburg ii. 44 Davis's attack against Cutler north of the road will be described shortly, followed immediately by an account of the battle for the railroad cut.
railroad euchre n. any of several variations of euchre, esp. one played with a joker as an extra wild card.
ΚΠ
1873 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. 3/2 Railroad euchre makes friends easily.
1905 Washington Post 27 Aug. iv. 8/5 In four-hand railroad euchre the dealer takes it up and goes alone. A plays alone against him and euchres him. What does A score?
1970 P. Berton National Dream vi. ii. 230 Euchre has several variations including ‘Railroad Euchre’ and ‘Cutthroat Euchre’.
railroad fever n. (a) enthusiasm for the construction of railroads; an instance of this; (b) passion for (riding on) trains.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > a railway > attitude to construction of
railroad fever1845
1845 Mass. Ploughman 25 Jan. 2/5 The Railroad fever is still running high in Europe.
1880 Bradstreet's 15 Sept. 8/1 A railroad fever is pervading various portions of the state.
1899 ‘J. Flynt’ Tramping with Tramps i. ii. 53 The tramp's theory of them [sc. runaway boys], is that they are possessed of the ‘railroad fever’.
1973 N.Y. Times 11 Feb. i. 90/1 When the steam passenger train is in use, it is manned by 50 volunteers, largely local people who suffer from ‘railroad fever’.
2003 K. Reynolds Henry Plant iv. 60 Augusta had entirely succumbed to railroad fever the year before Henry and Ellen arrived.
railroad guide n. a booklet or leaflet listing train routes and times for a particular area.
ΚΠ
1847 Niles' National Reg. 23 Oct. 114/2 ‘Doggett's railroad guide’ for September, 1847, has a table of railroads now in operation.
1859 L. D. Tierney Hist. Gold Discov. South Platte River 25 Persons starting from points east of Chicago, by obtaining a railroad guide, can easily estimate the distance and cost of travel for themselves to that point.
2003 P. L. Galison Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps iii. 126 A railroad guide in September 1883, for example, showed some forty-seven lines running on New York time.
railroad hat n. a hat of the style traditionally worn by a railroad engineer.
ΚΠ
1896 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 25 Oct. 13/7 (advt.) Gents' railroad hat..$1.23.
1957 J. Kerouac On the Road i. iii. 15 All the men were..wearing railroad hats, baseball hats.
2003 T. Franklin Hell at Breech 267 There was the lawyer Harry Drake in a grass-colored duck coat and railroad hat.
railroad king n. a person having power and influence in the business of railroads; a powerful railroad owner.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway worker > [noun] > leading railway industrialist
railroad king1849
society > trade and finance > trader > merchant > [noun] > wealthy > in specific trade
tobacco lord1832
railroad king1849
pork king1880
rum baron1887
lumber baron1888
tobacco baron1961
1849 Episcopal Recorder 18 Aug. 91/1 (heading) The Rail-Road King.
1871 H. B. Stowe My Wife & I xvi. 176 He is a rail~road king—a prince of stocks—a man going with a forty thousand steam power through New York waters.
1903 T. M. Tarbell in McClure's Mag. Jan. 254/2 The acquiescence of the ‘railroad kings’..was followed by an unwilling promise to break the contracts with the company.
1976 J. Lukasiewicz Railway Game 19 State legislature[s] were often subservient to the railroad kings.
2003 K. Reynolds Henry Plant iv. 59 Florida's future railroad king had the chance to ride behind some of America's first steam-driven locomotives.
railroad pace n. [compare earlier railroad speed n.] a very rapid pace.
ΚΠ
1834 Christian Reg. (Boston) 18 Oct. 40/4 Everything proceeds more rapidly—a rail-road pace.
1850 C. Kingsley N. Devon: Pt. III in Misc. (1860) II. 308 Long strings of sea~fowl are flagging on steadily at railroad pace.
1891 Los Angeles Times 4 Dec. 1/3 During the past decade it has advanced at railroad pace.
1963 F. M. L. Thompson Eng. Landed Society 19th Cent. v. 135 Life at railroad pace was more than the cloistered individuality of provincial towns with provincial seasons could stand.
railroad-scalper n. U.S. slang = scalper n.2 2a.
ΚΠ
1887 Chicago Tribune 8 Jan. 4/3 What is there in that rule to injure the West..or any other interest than that of railroad scalpers and stock gamblers?
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker iii. 43 He became a railroad-scalper..its essence appears to be to cheat the railroads out of their due fare.
1998 V. Smith Literary Culture & Pacific iv. 148 He has found employment as a railroad-scalper.
railroad service n. Real Tennis a type of overhead service in which the ball is hit hard in a relatively straight line along the penthouse, with spin causing it to bounce back towards the penthouse instead of out into the court.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > racket games > real tennis > [noun] > types of play or stroke
chasec1440
loss1591
volley1596
bandy1598
back-racket1608
service1611
force1662
serve1688
serving1688
Renshaw smash1881
pass1888
railroad service1890
kicker1936
1890 J. M. Heathcote et al. Tennis (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 108 Mr. Emmons, an American,..was the most remarkable exponent of left-handed play and of an absolutely unique railroad service.
1959 Times 6 May 4/3 Hampel who set up a promising attack based on a railroad service.
1984 Times 27 Nov. 26/8 Smith..has played little real tennis but his left-handed railroad service is tight and movement of the feet disciplined.
railroad speed n. the speed of a vehicle travelling on a railroad; a very rapid pace (= railroad pace n.).
ΚΠ
1825 Port Folio Aug. 131 Notwithstanding all that is said..about the great velocity of travelling on a rail road, is yet laid down as the maximum of a profitable rail road speed.
1859 C. E. DeLong Jrnl. 12 Feb. in Calif. Hist. Soc. Q. (1931) 10 45 Committee convened..hurried through at rail road speed.
1954 L. M. Starr Bohemian Brigade xiii. 341 The main body of his forces, pushing down at railroad speed..came upon the detachment of cavalry and infantry sent out in the morning by General Ord.
2001 A. M. T. Cammarota Pavements in Garden iv. 75 By 1839, the town council regulated railroad speed and signals.
railroad spike n. a spike used to fix a railroad track to a wooden sleeper.
ΚΠ
1848 Sci. Amer. 17 June 310/2 Upwards of twenty tons of railroad spikes are manufactured every week.
1939 W. A. White Changing West ii. 56 After the last railroad spike was driven.
2005 Washington Post (Nexis) 14 Aug. c2 Normally the stress is contained by the railroad spikes, tie plates, crossties and ballast to resist the side-to-side movement that causes the rails to buckle.
railroad switch n. = railway switch n. at railway n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > points
switch1837
point1838
railway switch1838
shunt1842
railroad switch1849
cross-points1896
1849 Sci. Amer. 5 May 262/1 Improved method of fastening Railroad Switches.
1977 U.S. News & World Rep. (Nexis) 21 Mar. 70 The workers did everything from chopping wood in Ohio to clearing snow and ice out of railroad switches in Buffalo.
2002 Social Forces 81 27 Relationship timing acts like a railroad switch: Goods are channeled along different relational tracks.
railroad tie n. a railway sleeper; = tie n. 7b.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > parts and fittings of rails > sleeper
cross-tie1813
sleeper1837
longitudinal1838
transom1838
cross-sleeper1841
railroad tie1847
stringer1848
tie1857
pot sleeper1869
waybeam1880
1847 Genesee (Rochester, N.Y.) Farmer Aug. 181/1 Such is the demand for fence posts and railroad ties.
1927 Daily Tel. 24 May 17/6 A contractor for railroad ties employing hundreds of the roughest of bohunks to hew and carry them for him.
2003 G. Schenk Gardening on Pavement, Tables, & Hard Surfaces ii. 30 Prior-to-soil retaining materials include railroad ties, timbers, planks, and bricks.
railroad time n. now historical = railway time n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > reckoning of time > [noun] > systems of reckoning time of day
time1646
apparent time1694
local timea1703
Greenwich Mean Time1782
sun time1837
GMT1840
railway time1847
railroad time1849
Greenwich time1861
Eastern time1878
Pacific time1880
Universal Time1882
Eastern Standard Time1883
Mountain time1883
British Standard Time1908
daylight saving1908
zone time1908
LMT1909
British Summer Time1916
summertime1916
U.T.1929
B.S.T.1930
EST1935
British Double Summer Time1941
war time1942
B.D.S.T.1943
ephemeris time1950
1849 Spirit of Times 22 Sept. 372/2 Waiter, is that Railroad time?
1885 Science 5 308/2 The establishment of a single meridian, and consequently of a time-system, which, like our present railroad-time in the United States, would be identical as to minutes and seconds all over the earth.
1949 H. Arnow Hunters Horn xxxvii. 482 By railroad time it's ten minutes an[d] two seconds after eight o'clock.
1997 M. M. Smith Mastered by Clock 181 Public complaints against the new ‘railroad time’ were made.
railroad track n. the line of rails on which a train runs.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track
way1700
track1806
rail track1824
railway track1824
line1825
main track1830
railroad track1830
single track1832
railway line1836
electric line1850
1830 Reg. Pennsylvania 13 Feb. 100/2 The only difference in the principle of the two constructions, it will be observed consists in extending the sills across the rail road track.
1947 Southern Folklore Q. Dec. 265 One of the most vivid of these images is one which describes a person's squirming ‘like a country mule hitched beside the railroad track’.
2004 C. J. Ogletree All Deliberate Speed ii. 23 The railroad tracks in Merced established critical boundaries in the 1950s and beyond.
railroad-track v. rare transitive to make a track or mark across or through resembling that of a railway.
ΚΠ
1973 M. R. Crowell Greener Pastures 54 Apple maggots have railroad-tracked the flesh of others [sc. apples].
1998 K. Berger & J. Bostwick Woman's Decision (ed. 3) xviii. 528 When you see this scar in the mirror, it's like somebody railroad-tracked you; it looks just like a pair of braces, only it's scar tissue.
railroad trestle n. a trestle supporting a railway track (cf. trestle n. 4b).
ΚΠ
1861 Sat. Evening Post 6 July 3/4 Two regiments..revisited Harper's Ferry, on the 27th, and destroyed the balance of the railroad trestle work.
1907 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire (Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. No. 324, Ser. R) 21 The whole shore slipped about 12 feet into the bay, the movement buckling the rails on a railroad trestle and the cars dropping about 5 feet.
1992 New Mexico Oct. 51/1 The trailhead is just north of the old railroad trestle.
railroad worm n. North American (a) the larva of the apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (family Tephritidae), which makes winding tunnels in the flesh of apples; (b) = railway beetle n. at railway n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Diversicornia > family Phengodidae > member of (railway beetle) > larva of or railroad worm
railroad worm1890
1890 Cent. Dict. Railroad-worm, the apple-maggot (larva of Trypeta pomonella): so called because it has spread along the lines of the railroads.
1905 S. A. Beach et al. Apples N.Y. I. 205 In portions of Eastern New York it is reported as being especially susceptible to the attacks of the apple maggot or railroad worm.
1944 E. N. Harvey in Jrnl. Cellular & Compar. Physiol. 23 31 (heading) The nature of the red and green luminescence of the South American ‘railroad worm’.
1973 C. A. Villee et al. Gen. Zool. (ed. 4) iv. 79/2 One of the more spectacular luminescent creatures is the ‘railroad worm’ of Uruguay.
1993 C. Shields Stone Diaries v. 195 The apple trees in the back garden are sprayed each season against railroad worm.
Derivatives
ˌrailroadiˈana n. matters relating to or concerning railroads; trivia or artefacts connected with railroads.
ΚΠ
1838 (title) Railroadiana. A new history of England.
1952 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Sept. 620/4 Harold Wyatt, an expert in railroadiana.
1963 Teacher 27 Dec. 11/4 This is indeed a railway-lover's companion—550 pages of railroadiana.
1997 Indianapolis Star 24 Oct. f7/4 Railroadiana Show and Sale: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday... Thousands of railroad artifacts.
ΚΠ
1851 Literary World (N.Y.) 31 May 434/3 He is writing too rapidly for his own fame: three novels in two years from a debutant, is too railroadish.
?1856 F. E. Smedley Harry Coverdale's Courtship i. 3 A little too railroadish, perhaps, unless a man's in an awful hurry.
ΚΠ
1883 National Baptist (U.S.) 19 700 Connecting the three Americas..in one bond of railroadship.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
railroadv.
/ˈreɪlrəʊd/, U.S. /ˈreɪlˌroʊd/ 1. transitive. To construct railroads in (a country, etc.). Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > furnish with railway [verb (transitive)]
railroad1829
railway1865
railwayize1873
1829 A. Royall Pennsylvania I. 123 They are canaling and rail-roading the whole country.
1848 E. Cook Poems (ed. 3) II. Pref. p. ix The public mind seems nearly as much railroaded as the country.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds 432 Kansas had been, in the expressive language of the border, ‘railroaded to death’.
1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 788/2 Nearly every country except China has been railroaded.
1961 R. Alley China's Hinterland in Leap Forward 469 The immediate plan, for railroading the country, estimates a length of 200,000 kilometers.
2.
a. transitive. To make one's way by train. Also with it. Now U.S.
ΚΠ
1838 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 113/2 The lounger who visits Covent-Garden one night, will have railroaded his way to Munich on the morrow.
1851 Spirit of Times 11 Jan. 555/3 A few days ago I railroaded it up the ked'ntry a hundred miles.
1858 Harper's Mag. Dec. 1/2 Railroading it through northern Georgia..they arrived at Montgomery.
1908 ‘O. Henry’ Options 171 From Washington we railroaded it to New Orleans.
1959 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 15 Aug. 8/2 Fully egged and baconed, we automobiled it to the Westport station. Railroaded it to New York, and bussed it over to Fifth Avenue.
b. intransitive. U.S. To travel by train.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > [verb (intransitive)]
rail1842
railroad1842
railway1855
train1856
train1888
1842 E. Fitzgerald Let. 16 Sept. (1980) I. 341 Rail-road to a station called Crick—13 shillings, 2nd class.
1889 Literary World (Boston) 8 June 190/3 Now steaming along the coast, now railroading along the shore.
1929 T. Gordon Born to Be xi. 98 I met a fellow whom I knew while I was railroading to Chicago.
1983 R. Hofvendahl Hard on Wind (2004) iii. 11 He had railroaded from one end of the country to the other.
c. transitive. Chiefly U.S. To transport (goods, passengers, etc.) by means of a railroad.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > [verb (transitive)] > convey by railway
rail1861
train1886
railroad1891
1891 E. S. Ellis Check No. 2134 263 They were ‘railroaded’ thither.
1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs II. 69 We were marched and rail~roaded back to Philadelphia.
1909 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 15 May 10/3 The keynote of railroading a circus is simply this: minimum distance combined with maximum population.
1976 M. Jackson in Oxf. Bk. Contemp. N.Z. Poetry (1982) 81 A night of iron wheels and rain,..and the nasal shriek of the train's severing echo.., I listen to you play..on your harmonica, railroaded into cinder yards on the abrupt last day of childhood.
1993 B. Farthing Internat. Shipping (ed. 2) x. 142 Another destabilising influence in this age of..the erosion of national borders is the impact of so called ‘land bridges’. This..is ‘trucking’ or ‘rail roading’ containers overland rather than taking them the longer way round by sea.
3.
a. transitive. Originally U.S. To rush or coerce (a person or thing) in a particular direction or to a particular conclusion; to accomplish (an action) with great or excessive speed. Now usually with adverb or adverbial phrase.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > do, deal with, acquire, etc., quickly [verb (transitive)] > cause to be done rapidly > hasten or hurry > unduly or excessively
overhastea1393
overhasten1608
preproperate1651
railroad1850
ramrod1912
society > authority > subjection > obedience > compulsion > compel [verb (transitive)]
needeOE
straita1340
pressa1393
afforcea1400
stressa1400
coactc1400
coarctc1400
strainc1400
compulse?a1475
cohert1475
oppress1523
compel1526
forcec1540
to tie to the stake1544
urge1576
adact1615
duressa1626
coerce1659
railroad1889
to twist the tail1895
steamroll1900
steamroller1912
shanghai1919
bulldozer1945
shotguna1961
1850 C. Mathews Moneypenny 125 Teddy hurried through his pie, railroading it down his throat at a high velocity.
1889 Boston Jrnl. 25 Jan. 2/2 The Supreme and Superior Judges in Connecticut..are paid only a moderate salary, and are railroaded out of office at the age of seventy.
1924 P. C. Macfarlane Tongues of Flame xxv. 222 They railroaded it [sc. the bill] through the senate before I was awake.
1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice xi. 118 If all cases were railroaded through that quick, it would do more to prevent crime than passing a hundred laws.
1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 12 June 3 The most ruthless block railroads its man into the nomination.
1961 A. Huxley Let. 5 May (1969) 911 I'm very thankful I didn't let myself be railroaded..into having half my tongue and a quarter of my neck cut out.
1997 J-17 Oct. 32/1 Lads are all totty to you, but railroading them into tight clinches only works if they fancy you back.
b. transitive. U.S. To send to prison, convict, or punish (a person) with summary speed, esp. on false evidence or without a fair trial.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)] > give up or expose to punishment > by means of false evidence
railroad1877
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > judging > conviction or judicial condemnation > convict or condemn [verb (transitive)] > convict by false evidence
railroad1877
1877 N.Y. Herald 9 Mar. 8/4 ‘Railroaded!’ Joe Coburn takes the cars for his ten years' home [i.e. Sing Sing].
1900 ‘J. Flynt’ & ‘F. Walton’ Powers that Prey 180 They're goin' to railroad him for fair. The World says the police found the weapon on him.
1930 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 26 July 26/2 He broke up the best gang of counterfeiters the country ever saw... He went into the post-office department and rail~roaded six of the smartest mail workers that ever hit a prison.
1964 C. Chaplin My Autobiogr. xxvii. 464 In spite of the absurdity of the charges there lurked in the back of my mind the possibility that I might be railroaded.
2004 N. T. Rosenberg Sullivan's Law (2005) 114 I'm almost certain he was railroaded. Are you covering for Harrison, along with every other cop around?
4. intransitive. U.S. To work on a railroad.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > [verb (intransitive)] > work on railroad
railroad1877
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > making or working railroads > make or work on railroads [verb (intransitive)]
railroad1877
1877 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 4) To railroad, to be a conductor on a railroad.
1887 C. B. George 40 Years on Rail iv. 69 A couple of fast runs that were made while I was railroading in Vermont.
1949 Los Angeles Times 26 Apr. 20/1 Railroading? We are railroading, mister. We made the railroads what they are.
1970 P. Berrigan in D. Berrigan Trial of Catonsville Nine iii. 21 All of us were born in Minnesota. My father was railroading out there and he married my mother who was a German immigrant.
2000 C. X. Moreau Promise of Glory 53 When she married me I was railroading, in Chicago, an occupation her father found imminently satisfying.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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