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handcar

American

[hand-kahr] / ˈhændˌkɑr /

noun

a small railroad car or platform on four wheels propelled by a mechanism worked by hand, used on some railroads for inspecting tracks and transporting workers.

Etymology

Origin of handcar

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50; hand + car ¹

Vocabulary lists containing handcar

"Another Place, Another Time," Vocabulary from the short story

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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.

Bike-adjacent inventions that roll atop train tracks have been known by many different names — handcar, draisine, kalamazoo and velocipede are just a few — since they first cropped up around the 1860s.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2023

In 1962, he published the marvellous “Willowdale Handcar,” in which three young people take off one day on a railroad handcar.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 3, 2018

The Disney toys include a Mickey and Minnie Mouse handcar, a Donald Duck and Pluto handcar and two windup toys of Pluto and Donald made from composition rubber.

From Washington Times • Jul. 11, 2016

The train’s conductor, William A. Fuller, pursued the first on a handcar and then by commandeering another locomotive.

From Time • Jul. 3, 2013

Cora leaned into the pump of the handcar.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

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