marine railway

American  

noun

1. a railway having a rolling cradle for hauling ships out of water onto land and returning them.

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marine railway British  

noun

1. another term for slipway

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Etymology

Origin of marine railway

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25

Example Sentences

With a 112,000-square-foot facility on eight acres of land, complete with a full-service shipyard and 250-ton marine railway, West Bay delivers from 16 to 18 yachts per year.

From Time Magazine Archive

With 36 conventional locks, two sets of flight locks, a marine railway and two of the world's highest hydraulic lift locks, a cruise here can be a real adventure.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was first intended to construct a small marine railroad and launch the caissons in that manner, rolling them along the skids to the head of the marine railway.

From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXX, Dec. 1910 Reinforced Concrete Pier Construction by Klapp, Eugene

She has had him out on the marine railway of love, has made proper survey, and has decided that she would hate to sail the sea of matrimony with him.

From Blow The Man Down A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 by Day, Holman

Tom and his chum had managed to get the Kilo to Ramsey's dock, and over the ways of the inclined marine railway that led from the shop on shore down into the river.

From Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone or the Picture That Saved a Fortune by Appleton, Victor [pseud.]