dining car

American

noun

a railroad car equipped with tables and chairs, in which meals are served.

dining car British

noun

Also called: restaurant car. a railway coach in which meals are served at tables

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of dining car

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Still, nobody should expect a Michelin-star meal in an Amtrak dining car.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

By the time I arrived in the dining car for my first dinner aboard, we were nearing Barstow.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

Amtrak doesn’t play favorites in the dining car, so meals are another built-in meetup.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

And so Ricky Chatto found himself constructing a complete dining car and sleeper carriage inside Clean Bandit’s studio in Finsbury Park.

From BBC • Aug. 20, 2024

The dining car attendant came at a run.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023