trailer
[trey-ler]
- a large van or wagon drawn by an automobile, truck, or tractor, used especially in hauling freight by road.Compare full trailer, semitrailer.
- Also called travel trailer. a vehicle attached to an automobile and used as a mobile home or place of business, usually equipped with furniture, kitchen facilities, bathroom, etc.Compare tent trailer.
- a person or thing that trails.
- a trailing plant.
- a short promotional film composed of clips showing highlights of a movie due for release in the near future.
- blank film at the end of a reel or strip of film, for winding off the film in a motion-picture camera or projector.Compare leader(def 6).
- Ceramics. a can with a spout, used in slip trailing.
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Origin of trailer
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for trailer
Contemporary Examples
After the release of the trailer for the special last week, TLC received a requisite and perhaps well-deserved tongue-lashing.
Production expenses: equipment rental, lights, lighting board, van rental, trailer rental, road cases, backline.
The crime-fighting penguins, says the trailer, are “masters of the skies, espionage, and aerial assault.”
Lovable ‘Madagascar’ Penguins Are Known to Rape and Torture in Real LifeAsawin Suebsaeng
November 26, 2014
And then I saw the trailer to Nightcrawler and texted him again and said, “Wow, you inspire me every day.”
Anna Kendrick on Feminism, #GamerGate, and the Celebrity Hacking AttackMarlow Stern
November 25, 2014
Banks grew up far from the trailer park—up on 152nd St. and Amsterdam in Harlem.
Historical Examples
"We can come back and look at your trailer tomorrow in daylight," said Rush.
Old Rambling HouseFrank Patrick Herbert
He thought of the trailer: A good one, but not worth more than seven thousand.
Old Rambling HouseFrank Patrick Herbert
"That's the way I feel," answered the trailer, and his tone was conclusive.
They of the High TrailsHamlin Garland
Never lose the chance of the first snow if you wish to become a trailer.
Boy Scouts HandbookBoy Scouts of America
Roberts picked up from the fort a Mescalero Apache famous as a trailer.
Oh, You Tex!William Macleod Raine
trailer
- a road vehicle, usually two-wheeled, towed by a motor vehicle: used for transporting boats, etc
- the part of an articulated lorry that is drawn by the cab
- a series of short extracts from a film, used to advertise it in a cinema or on television
- a person or thing that trails
- US and Canadian a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived inAlso called (in Britain and certain other countries): caravan
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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 trailer
n.
1890, "vehicle pulled by another," agent noun from trail (v.); originally a small carriage drawn along by a bicycle. Meaning "preview of a coming movie" first attested 1928. Trailer park recorded by 1936. Trailer trash in use by 1986.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper