railroad

[reyl-rohd]

noun

1. a permanent road laid with rails, rail, commonly in one or more pairs of continuous lines forming a track or tracks, on which locomotives and cars are run for the transportation of passengers, freight, and mail.

2. an entire system of such roads together with its rolling stock, buildings, etc.; the entire railway plant, including fixed and movable property.

3. the company of persons owning or operating such a plant.

4. Bowling.,  a split.

5. railroads, stocks or bonds of railroad companies.

verb (used with object)

1. to transport by means of a railroad.

2. to supply with railroads.

3. Informal.,  to push (a law or bill) hastily through a legislature so that there is not time enough for objections to be considered.

4. Informal.,  to convict (a person) in a hasty manner by means of false charges or insufficient evidence.

   The prisoner insisted he had been railroaded.

verb (used without object)

1. to work on a railroad.

railroad

/ ˈreɪlˌrəʊd /

noun

1. the usual US word for railway

verb

1. informal,  (tr) to force (a person) into (an action) with haste or by unfair means

Other Word Forms

• nonrailroad adjective
• prerailroad adjective
• prorailroad adjective
• unrailroaded adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of railroad¹

1750–60; 1875–85 railroad for def. 9; rail ¹ + road

Example Sentences

Instead of using traditional railroad couplers or magnets to attach cars, the cars use their motors to stay connected.

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At its peak, the enslaved population’s market value exceeded the worth of all the other industrial capital in the country, which would include railroads and factories, estimates economist Thomas Piketty.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Canadian railroad says 3Q revenue of C$4.2 billion was driven by an 11% increase in intermodal transport, which are containers that can be transferred between trains, trucks, and ships.

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Compared with Brazil and Chile, infrastructure such as roads, railroads and ports are less extensive or well maintained.

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She and her younger siblings regularly set out with their mother to the nearby railroad tracks, where they harvested leftover lumps of coal to fuel their pot-bellied stove — the apartment’s sole source of heat.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• rail line www.thesaurus.com
• railway 
• subway