tractor

[ trak-ter ]

noun

1. a powerful motor-driven vehicle with large, heavy treads, used for pulling farm machinery, other vehicles, etc.
2. Also called truck tractor. a short truck with a driver's cab but no body, designed for hauling a trailer or semitrailer.
3. something used for drawing or pulling.
4. Aeronautics.
   1. a propeller mounted at the front of an airplane, thus exerting a pull.
   2. Also called tractor airplane. an airplane with a propeller so mounted.

tractor

/ ˈtræktə /

noun

1. a motor vehicle used to pull heavy loads, esp farm machinery such as a plough or harvester. It usually has two large rear wheels with deeply treaded tyres
2. a short motor vehicle with a powerful engine and a driver's cab, used to pull a trailer, as in an articulated lorry
3. an aircraft with its propeller or propellers mounted in front of the engine

Word History and Origins

Origin of tractor¹

1855–60; < Latin trac-, variant stem of trahere to draw, pull + -tor -tor

Word History and Origins

Origin of tractor¹

C18: from Late Latin: one who pulls, from trahere to drag

Example Sentences

The farmers rode tractors into New Delhi, demanding the repeal of new farm laws.

From Eater

Protesters were supposed to hold a tractor rally on specific routes in the capital, after the official Republic Day parade.

From Quartz

These measures, which were extended in 2010 and remain in force, treat the purchase of alpacas like tractors or other new equipment.

From Popular-Science

Automated tractors will soon be able to plow vegetable fields to a smoother surface than a human driver could, improving germination rates.

From MIT Technology Review

Finally, it costs him Rs3,500 to rent a tractor trolley to carry the crop to the market, and Rs2,000 for diesel for the journey.

From Quartz

Juanita Schulze said as a train rammed through a stuck tractor-trailer.

From The Daily Beast

Going hands-free is just one of the perks of a place where the only form of transportation is by carriage, bike, or tractor.

From The Daily Beast

A few miles on, a new main road was clotted with convoys of tractor-trailers.

From The Daily Beast

Highways were blocked off, leaving passengers waiting to be rescued by a tractor.

From The Daily Beast

Wearing a red hoodie over his baseball cap, Omar, 17, quickly jumped off a tractor to greet us.

From The Daily Beast

Out on a green meadow a farmer drove a tractor, busily plowing deep furrows for a new crop.

From Project Gutenberg

He strolled casually down to a rude stone wall and watched the tractor churn toward him.

From Project Gutenberg

Something had gone wrong with his gasoline tractor, and she knew he had spent two or three hours finding out the fault.

From Project Gutenberg

All told of strenuous effort in which sweating men and horses had been aided by tractor machines.

From Project Gutenberg

Lucky a trader needs an atom-powered tractor that can move at night.

From Project Gutenberg