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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

After hiding in a barn with his parents and brother for several months at the onset of the war, Ron was sent in a cattle car to Plaszów, a forced labor camp, in March 1943.

From Washington Post Mar. 29, 2022

Her journey, and that of my parents, began by railroad, crammed in a cattle car in Latvia that eventually took them to a refugee camp in Austria.

From Seattle Times Mar. 18, 2022

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

It was cold along the wall of the cattle car.

From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz

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