railway

[reyl-wey]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR railway ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a rail line with lighter-weight equipment and roadbed than a main-line railroad.

a railroad, especially one operating over relatively short distances.

Also called trackway. any line or lines of rails forming a road of flanged-wheel equipment.

Chiefly British. railroad.

Origin of railway

First recorded in 1770–80; rail¹ + way¹

Related formsrail·wayed, adjectiverail·way·less, adjectivein·ter·rail·way, adjectivepre·rail·way, adjectiveun·rail·wayed, adjective

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

Related Words for railway

track, line

Examples from the Web for railway

Contemporary Examples of railway

All in all, approximately 13,000 Allied POWs and 90,000 Asian laborers perished while working on the railway.
Riding Thailand’s WWII Death Railway
Liza Foreman
December 21, 2014
Manttan is keen to carry out research on that Burmese side of the railway as his father worked on that section.
Riding Thailand’s WWII Death Railway
Liza Foreman
December 21, 2014
A dam now in place on the Thai side of the line prevents the railway from being reconstructed in its entirety, he explains.
Riding Thailand’s WWII Death Railway
Liza Foreman
December 21, 2014
They recorded 10,549 graves on or near the railway in 144 cemeteries, failing to locate only 52 graves.
Riding Thailand’s WWII Death Railway
Liza Foreman
December 21, 2014
Two years later, Death Metal Angola is readying for its premiere, and the railway film remains unfinished.
Death Metal Angola: Heavy Metal in War-Torn Africa
Nina Strochlic
November 21, 2014

Historical Examples of railway

I would like to return to Paris, but the railway is mobilized.
Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
He can have a season ticket on the railway, and come down every night.
Life in London
Edwin Hodder
It represents a sort of nut, itself too bulky for a railway truck.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
As yet the good townsfolk are hardly alive to the benefits of a railway.
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards
A most picturesque little place is this, seen from the railway.
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards

British Dictionary definitions for railway

railway

US railroad

noun

a permanent track composed of a line of parallel metal rails fixed to sleepers, for transport of passengers and goods in trains

any track on which the wheels of a vehicle may runa cable railway

the entire equipment, rolling stock, buildings, property, and system of tracks used in such a transport system

the organization responsible for operating a railway network

(modifier) of, relating to, or used on a railway or railwaysa railway engine; a railway strike

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 railway

1812 in modern sense, from rail (n.1) + way. Earlier used of any sort of road on which rails (originally wooden) were laid for easier transport (1776).