trolleyn.
/ˈtrɒli/, U.S. /ˈtrɑli/ 1. Locally applied to a low cart of various kinds, e.g. a costermonger's cart; at Yarmouth, a narrow cart or sledge adapted for the ‘rows’ or narrow alleys (row n.1 4b). Cf. troll n.1 5 and trolley-cart n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > cart or wagon for conveying goods > [noun] > types of > low or without sides
roll-wainc1503
dray1581
troll1663
dray-cart1710
rulley1759
truck1774
trolley1823
gambo1836
lorry1838
platform car1843
platform wagon1850
trolley-cart1865
float1866
wherry?1881
camion1885
rolley1886
floater1888
sloven1889
1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words (at cited word) Sich roads! We got rarely jounced i' the trolly.
1870 Pall Mall Gaz. 25 Aug. 4 The prisoner was leading his horse in a trolly along Fairfield-road, Bow.
2.
a. A low truck without sides or ends, esp. one with flanged wheels for running on a railway, or a track of rails in a factory, etc. Cf. bogie n. 1.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > without sides
truck1838
trolley1858
flatcar1881
piggyback1946
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Trolley, a kind of railway vehicle.
1861 S. Smiles Lives Engineers II. 201 The goods in the London Docks are hauled in trollies, waggons or hand~barrows from ship to ship.
1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings I. xix. 244 I'll send in a trolley of coal.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 187 s.v. The two-wheeled trolly is used in a rolling-mill to wheel the puddle-balls to the squeezer.
1881 H. W. Nicholson From Sword to Share xxv. 182 The train..was made up of some dozen sideless trucks, or trawleys.
1885 Law Times 16 May 47/1 A porter..put all the luggage on a trolley..and wheeled the trolley on to the platform.
b. In figurative phrase off one's trolley, crazy. Cf. rocker n.1 Phrases. slang.
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the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
1896 G. Ade Artie x. 92 Any one that's got his head full o' the girl proposition's liable to go off his trolley at the first curve.
1903 A. H. Lewis Boss xix. 264 She's off her trolley. She toins sick; an' in a week she croaks.
1949 N. R. Nash Young & Fair ii. ii. 66 If you suspect Patty, you're off your trolley!
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 4 Sept. 13/3 Anybody who buys a luxury liner for use as a floating hotel is off his trolley.
1983 Times 5 Feb. 3/1 The London college gym mistress who is suing her former lover for libel in the High Court, heard a lawyer say yesterday that she had ‘gone off her trolley’ about the affair.
c. A small table or stand on wheels or castors for use in serving food, transporting light objects, luggage, etc. Frequently as the second element in combinations. supermarket trolley: see supermarket trolley n. at supermarket n. Compounds 3; also elliptical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle pushed or pulled by person > [noun] > wheelbarrow or handcart > trolley
roll-wagon1647
trolley1937
1937 A. Thirkell Summer Half x. 275 Mrs. Keith had then bought an excellent tea-trolley with rubber wheels and ball bearings.
1944 D. Welch In Youth is Pleasure ii. 39 Some [waiters] carried trays poised high in the air; others trundled chromium trolleys with glass shelves, on which brilliant little cakes were piled.
a1948 D. Welch Voice through Cloud (1950) iv. 39 When the porters..started to wheel him out of the ward, he sat up on the trolley, so that the red blankets fell off him.
1949 S. Smith Holiday xiii. 173 The semolina pudding came in on the trolly.
1963 Guardian 25 Nov. 6/3 The latest model of the L. G. Hawkins hostess trolley..in which you can carry four dishes and a joint from the kitchen.
1973 J. Wilson Truth or Dare ii. 24 I couldn't help noticing what she'd got in her trolly: sausages, luncheon meat and a tub of marge.
1977 Lancs. Life Nov. 107/1 (caption) A good trolley is an invaluable aid to efficient hostessmanship.
1982 Amer. Speech 57 154 Trolley, surgical dressing cart (British).
3.
a. A grooved metallic pulley which travels along, and receives current from, an overhead electric wire, the current being then conveyed by a trolley-pole or other conductor to a motor, usually that of a car on a street railroad; also called trolley-wheel (see Compounds 2). Also applied to any pulley running along an overhead track, as in a trolley-scale (see Compounds 2).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus
trolley1891
trolley-car1895
trolley-bus1921
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conductor used in transport > [noun] > conductor of current from wires
trolley1891
trolley-wheel1891
bow trolley1901
pantograph1907
bow1909
1891 in Cent. Dict.
1902 T. O'C. Sloane Standard Electr. Dict. (at cited word) Trolleys are principally used on electric railroads.
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. at Abattoir scales The meat, suspended from hooks attached to a trolley traveling on a telpherage system or overhead track, is run upon a short section of track which forms the weighing-platform of the scales... Another form of scale employs a trolley for weighing materials in transit, with a scale-beam attached directly to the trolley and traveling with it. Called a trolley-scale.
b. Short for trolley-car n. at Compounds 2. U.S.
ΚΠ
1891 Month Sept. 24 I jumped off the trolley.
1908 Daily Chron. 20 Jan. 4/4 To go anywhere in Boston you must take a tram..(they call it a trolley).
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
trolley-journey n.
ΚΠ
1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago 190 To start..on a trolley journey.
trolley-load n.
ΚΠ
1898 Daily News 22 Oct. 3/5 A trolley-load of foreign silks, velvets, and fancy woollen goods.
trolley system n.
ΚΠ
1892 Daily News 4 Oct. 5/1 An intra-mural elevated railway is being constructed... Its cars will be moved by electric traction on the ‘trolley’ system.
C2.
trolley-bar n. = trolley-pole n.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus > overhead wires and attachments
span wire1891
trolley-bar1891
pull-off1892
plough1894
trolley-pole1895
trolley-wire1895
trolley-ear1898
trolley-hanger1898
trolley-harp1904
feeder ear1924
1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 30 Oct. 6/2 On the top of the car is a ‘trolley bar’.
trolley-bus n. (also †trolli-busObsolete) a trackless passenger vehicle that gets its power from an overhead cable by means of a pole and trolley (see 3); also attributive.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus
trolley1891
trolley-car1895
trolley-bus1921
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 13 Oct. 11/7 The trolley-buses..are of the single-deck type, with seats for twenty-four passengers.
1927 Daily Express 20 July 9/6 The ‘trolli-bus’ traffic receipts last week..were £400 more than the receipts for the corresponding week last year.
1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing i. 13 He climbed into a trolley-bus, which after a mile or so stopped at a large gateway.
1961 C. Willock Death in Covert xii. 224 A clang and ring that reminded him incongruously of vibrating trolley-bus wires.
1978 Country Life 13 Apr. 956/2 The nearly extinct tram and trolley bus will be revived.
trolley-car n. U.S. an electric car driven by means of a trolley (see 3).
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus
trolley1891
trolley-car1895
trolley-bus1921
1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 758 The lazy barges will perhaps rival in bustle the trolley car on land.
trolley-cart n. local a Yarmouth trolley (see 1).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > cart or wagon for conveying goods > [noun] > types of > low or without sides
roll-wainc1503
dray1581
troll1663
dray-cart1710
rulley1759
truck1774
trolley1823
gambo1836
lorry1838
platform car1843
platform wagon1850
trolley-cart1865
float1866
wherry?1881
camion1885
rolley1886
floater1888
sloven1889
1865 Daily Tel. 25 Aug. Yarmouth ingenuity..hit upon the notion of the ‘trolly cart’..a sledge, about 12 ft. long, but not much more than a yard in breadth, mounted upon wheels less than 3 ft. high.
trolley coal n. coal conveyed on trolleys or street trucks for sale.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun]
coal1253
sea-coal1253
pit-coal1483
cannel1541
earth coala1552
horse coal1552
Newcastle coal1552
stone-coal1585
cannel coal1587
parrot1594
burn-coal1597
lithanthrax1612
stony coal1617
Welsh coala1618
land-coala1661
foot coal1665
peacock coal1686
rough coal1686
white coal1686
heathen-coalc1697
coal-stone1708
round1708
stone-coal1708
bench-coal1712
slipper coal1712
black coal1713
culm1742
rock coal1750
board coal1761
Bovey coal1761
house coal1784
mineral coal1785
splint1789
splint coal1789
jet coal1794
anthracite1797
wood-coal1799
blind-coal1802
black diamond1803
silk-coal1803
glance-coal1805
lignite1808
Welsh stone-coal1808
soft1811
spout coals1821
spouter1821
Wallsend1821
brown coal1833
paper coal1833
steam-coal1850
peat-coal1851
cherry-coal1853
household1854
sinter coal1854
oil coal1856
raker1857
Kilkenny coal1861
Pottery coal1867
silkstone1867
block coal1871
admiralty1877
rattlejack1877
bunker1883
fusain1883
smitham1883
bunker coal1885
triping1886
trolley coal1890
kibble1891
sea-borne1892
jet1893
steam1897
sack coal1898
Welsh1898
navigation coal1900
Coalite1906
clarain1919
durain1919
vitrain1919
single1921
kolm1930
hards1956
1890 Daily News 18 Mar. 4/6 They further increased the price of house coal by 2s. a ton, and trolly coal by 1s. 6d. per ton.
trolley-ear n. = trolley-hanger n.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus > overhead wires and attachments
span wire1891
trolley-bar1891
pull-off1892
plough1894
trolley-pole1895
trolley-wire1895
trolley-ear1898
trolley-hanger1898
trolley-harp1904
feeder ear1924
1898 E. J. Houston Dict. Electr. Words (ed. 4) ii. 969/2 Trolley Ear, a metal piece supported by an insulator to which the trolley wire is fastened.
trolley fittings n. sliding fittings (of a wardrobe, etc.) running on pulleys.
ΚΠ
1930 Daily Express 30 July 4/6 Wardrobe Trunks..with trolley fittings.
trolley-frog n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1898 E. J. Houston Dict. Electr. Words (ed. 4) ii. 969/2 Trolley Frog, the device to which the trolley wire is attached, employed for causing a car to deviate from one line to another.
trolley-hanger n. a contrivance for supporting and insulating a trolley-wire.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus > overhead wires and attachments
span wire1891
trolley-bar1891
pull-off1892
plough1894
trolley-pole1895
trolley-wire1895
trolley-ear1898
trolley-hanger1898
trolley-harp1904
feeder ear1924
1898 E. J. Houston Dict. Electr. Words (ed. 4) Trolley Hanger, a device for supporting and properly insulating a trolley wire.
trolley-harp n. the holder at the end of a trolley-pole which supports the trolley-wheel.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus > overhead wires and attachments
span wire1891
trolley-bar1891
pull-off1892
plough1894
trolley-pole1895
trolley-wire1895
trolley-ear1898
trolley-hanger1898
trolley-harp1904
feeder ear1924
1904 Electr. World & Engineer 18 June 1167 Trolley-harp.
trolley-head n. = trolley-harp n.
trolley-hook n. a hook used for replacing a trolley-wheel when it slips off the wire ( Funk's Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. 1895).
trolley-line n. a line of electric cars run by means of trolleys ( Funk's Standard Dict. Eng. Lang.).
trolleyman n. a man employed to drive a trolley or a trolley-car.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > driver of trolley
trolleyman1897
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > public passenger transport > [noun] > public transport employees > driver of street trolley car
trolleyman1897
1897 Daily News 23 Feb. 7/4 The number on strike at Sunderland is 111, including 51 trolleymen.
1900 Daily News 11 June 3/2 The strike of street trolley (electric tramcar) men [at St. Louis].
trolley-pole n. a hinged pole on an electric car, supporting the trolley (see 3), and conveying the current from the overhead wire.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus > overhead wires and attachments
span wire1891
trolley-bar1891
pull-off1892
plough1894
trolley-pole1895
trolley-wire1895
trolley-ear1898
trolley-hanger1898
trolley-harp1904
feeder ear1924
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Trolley-pole.
1897 Daily News 19 July 8/4 The electricity is transmitted to the motors on the car by means of trolley poles, or ‘fishing rods’, which..glide along the wire as the car runs.
trolley-rail n. a rail conveying current to the motors on an electric railway.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > types of rail > conductor rail on electric railway
trolley-rail1898
conductor rail1900
middle rail?1905
1898 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers 1897 14 355 Trolley-rail.
trolley-road n. an electric tramline worked on the trolley system (U.S.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road laid with parallel planks, slabs, or rails > [noun] > laid with rails > for tramcars
street railway1828
tramway1860
tramline1886
trolley-road1895
beltline1898
1895 Information 6 July 3/2 This electric railroad is practically a very heavy and substantially built trolley road. The trolley wire..is hung from very heavy poles.
trolley-scale n. a scale for weighing meat or other commodities, in which the scale-beam is attached to a trolley travelling on an overhead track, as in a market or warehouse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement by weighing > equipment for weighing > [noun] > a weighing apparatus > other weighing apparatus
poundereOE
auncel1298
baublea1425
shaft1429
poundrelc1450
peson1459
trebuchet1550
handsale1607
trolley-scale1909
1909Trolley-scale [see sense 3a].
trolley shop n. a trolley (see 2c) from which goods are sold, esp. in a hospital.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > stall or booth > [noun] > trolley
trolley shop1958
1958 Times 7 July (Suppl.) p. xix/1 Volunteer nurses..still give invaluable aid in hospital wards; volunteers take round trolley-shops.
1974 Country Life 4 Apr. 797/1 We [sc. the Red Cross] organize out-patients' canteens. Trolley shops. Libraries.
trolley-wheel n. = sense 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conductor used in transport > [noun] > conductor of current from wires
trolley1891
trolley-wheel1891
bow trolley1901
pantograph1907
bow1909
1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 30 Oct. 6/2 A small grooved ‘trolley wheel’..runs against the under side of the overhead wire.
trolley-wire n. an overhead electric wire supplying current to the trolleys of electric cars.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > trolley car or bus > overhead wires and attachments
span wire1891
trolley-bar1891
pull-off1892
plough1894
trolley-pole1895
trolley-wire1895
trolley-ear1898
trolley-hanger1898
trolley-harp1904
feeder ear1924
1895Trolley wire [see trolley-road n.].
Derivatives
ˈtrolley v. (transitive) to convey by trolley; intransitive to travel by trolley.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport of goods in a vehicle > transport goods in vehicle [verb (transitive)] > by trolley
trolley1882
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > public passenger transport > travel on (public vehicle) [verb (intransitive)] > travel by trolley
trolley1882
1882 W. E. Baxter Winter in India viii. 84 Mr. Prestage..had arranged that we should be ‘trollied’ down the mountains instead of going in the train.
1900 Daily News 21 Mar. 5/4 These two officers trollied along the line..till they got close to Springfontein Station.
1936 ‘M. Innes’ Death at President's Lodging xiii. 234 Ah, well, my picture of Háveland trolleying his own bones plus corpse up the garden path was no doubt, as you suggested, a bit steep.
1978 P. McCutchan Blackmail North vi. 69 Stocks being trolleyed in from freighter aircraft.
ˈtrolleyful n. as much or many as a trolley will hold.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > the scientific measurement of volume > measure(s) of capacity > amount defined by capacity > [noun] > a load as a quantity > amount that fills other means of transport
sledful1701
trolleyful1889
howdahful1892
1889 R. Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) II. xxvii. 34 The cans..were..slidden along by the trolleyful.
1900 Daily News 21 May 4/1 A procession of three hundred young men dragging a trolleyful of ladies.
ˈtrolleyize v. (transitive) to adapt to the trolley system, as a tramline (U.S.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [verb (transitive)] > convert to trolley system
trolleyize1895
1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 751 Every species of tramway..becomes trolleyized.
Draft additions January 2005
trolley dolly n. colloquial (a) U.S. (apparently) a female taxi driver (rare); (b) chiefly British and Australian, a flight attendant, esp. a female one.
ΚΠ
1951 Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 3 May 13/3 They used to call us trolley dollies.
1990 Herald (Melbourne) (Nexis) 14 June He is a Qantas Trolley Dolly and they excel at spooning out the caviar.
2001 S. Armitage Little Green Man (2002) xxv. 155 When a plane bursts into flames on impact, where would we be without half a dozen make-up-encrusted trolley-dollies to prop us in the recovery position?
Draft additions September 2016
trolley dash n. British (a) an event in which the winner of a game or competition is entitled to a set period of free shopping in a supermarket or other store, the object being to place as many products as possible in a shopping trolley during this time; (b) a quick or rushed shopping trip around a supermarket or other store.
ΚΠ
1991 Independent 19 Aug. 21/2 Presenter Richard Madeley protested when he found that the police were distributing posters for ‘The Richard Madeley Sponsored Trolley Dash’.
1994 Guardian 3 Dec. 29/3 People have forgotten the essential message of A Christmas Carol—to be nice to each other—and swapped it for a trolley-dash.
2005 Olive July 29/1 When you're mid supermarket trolley dash, the traffic lights system will be a quick eye-catching way of saying ‘buy me, I'm good for you’ or ‘back off, I'm full of bad things.’
2015 Church Times 9 Jan. 12/3 At 7.15 precisely, Mrs Roberts, who had always wanted to do a trolley dash, flew round the store picking up no less than £511-worth of goods.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1823