railroading

[reyl-roh-ding]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR railroading ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the construction or operation of railroads.

travel by railroad.

Origin of railroading

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; railroad + -ing¹

railroad

[reyl-rohd]

noun

a permanent road laid with rails, 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.

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

the company of persons owning or operating such a plant.

Bowling. a split.

railroads, stocks or bonds of railroad companies.

verb (used with object)

to transport by means of a railroad.

to supply with railroads.

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

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)

to work on a railroad.

Origin of railroad

1750–60; 1875–85 for def 9; rail¹ + road

Related formsnon·rail·road, adjectivepre·rail·road, adjectivepro·rail·road, adjectiveun·rail·road·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for railroading

detain, jail, confine, imprison, sentence, hold, urge, sue, force, worry, demand, push, assail, squeeze, petition, depress, propel, shove, launch, bump

Examples from the Web for railroading

Contemporary Examples of railroading

The most direct mail route was not the one best suited for human travel in a time when railroading was still in its infancy.
Santorum’s Audi and Other Political Transportation Follies
Ben Jacobs
February 18, 2012
By railroading the McDonnells and Joneses of the world out of public life, we're left with colorless numbskulls.
Leave Van Jones Alone
Reihan Salam
September 8, 2009

Historical Examples of railroading

We love to run past the signals, in our railroading and in our thinking.
The American Mind
Bliss Perry
At any rate we'll have to call off railroading for to-night, for if you are not sleepy, I am.
Steve and the Steam Engine
Sara Ware Bassett
That was real railroading, the top-notch of railroading, too.
The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories
Various
It is the same in railroading—or anything else, for that matter.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 11 (of 14)
Elbert Hubbard
At one time, from 1849 to 1855, I was engaged in railroading.
Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877
Various

British Dictionary definitions for railroading

railroad

noun

the usual US word for railway

verb

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for railroading

1842, "travel by rail," from railroad (n.). As "business of running railways" from 1882.

railroad

1757, from rail (n.1) + road. Originally "road laid with rails for heavy wagons (in mining)." The process itself (but not the word) seems to have been in use by late 17c. Application to passenger and freight trains dates from 1825, though tending to be replaced in this sense in England by railway.

railroad

"to convict quickly and perhaps unjustly," 1873, American English, from railroad (n.).

A person knowing more than might be desirable of the affairs, or perhaps the previous life of some powerful individual, high in authority, might some day ventilate his knowledge, possibly before a court of justice; but if his wisdom is railroaded to State's prison, his evidence becomes harmless. ["Wanderings of a Vagabond," New York, 1873]

Related: Railroaded; railroading. An earlier verb sense was "to have a mania for building railroads" (1847).