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cattle car

American  

noun

  1. Railroads. stock car.

  2. Slang. a railroad passenger car providing little comfort and few amenities.


Etymology

Origin of cattle car

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

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.

See Examples For:

The Jewish girl and her family were first imprisoned in a ghetto on the outskirts of town and later forced onto a cattle car that took them to the Pechora concentration camp in 1941.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 18, 2023

Stojka would paint the cattle car in which she was deported: a rickety thing, its rear window barred, charging into a sky burning white, pink and orange.

From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2020

He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2019

She recalls how the families cried and ran after the cattle car she and around 50 girls were packed into as it travelled to the spa town of Poprad.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 25, 2017

The cattle car was crowded and unsanitary like all the rest, and there was no food or water but what we brought with us.

From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz

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