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.

RELATED WORDS

track, line

Nearby words

Origin of railway

First recorded in 1770–80; rail¹ + way¹

Related forms

rail·wayed, adjectiverail·way·less, adjectivein·ter·rail·way, adjectivepre·rail·way, adjective

un·rail·wayed, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
And there is another point about railway junctions that reveals an important application to the larger journey of our life.
The Unpopular Review, Volume II Number 3|Various
They asked the railway officers to prepare for the transport of an army corps of 30,000 men.
The Rise of Rail-Power in War and Conquest, 1833-1914|Edwin A. Pratt
He climbed on to a little hillock just beside the ravine in which the railway ran.
The Duel|A. I. Kuprin
Some things are cheaper here—the railway comes a little cheaper, and is infinitely more miserable.
Sea and Sardinia|D. H. Lawrence
It is served by the Chicago & North-Western railway, and by an extensive inter-urban electric system.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 5|Various

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

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).