tram

[tram]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tram ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

British. a streetcar.

a tramway; tramroad.

Also called tram·car

[tram-kahr] /ˈtræmˌkɑr/. a truck or car on rails for carrying loads in a mine.

the vehicle or cage of an overhead carrier.

verb (used with or without object), trammed, tram·ming.

to convey or travel by tram.

Origin of tram

1490–1500 for an earlier sense; 1820–30 for def 2; orig. shafts of a barrow or cart, rails for carts (in mines); perhaps < Middle Dutch trame beam

Related formstram·less, adjective

tram

[tram]

noun

trammel(def 3).

verb (used with object), trammed, tram·ming.

Machinery. to adjust (something) correctly.

Origin of tram

First recorded in 1880–85; short for trammel

tram

[tram]

noun

silk that has been slightly or loosely twisted, used weftwise in weaving silk fabrics.

Compare organzine.

Origin of tram

1300–50 for an earlier sense; 1670–80 for current sense; Middle English tram(m)e machination, contrivance < Old French traime weft, cunning contrivance < Latin trāma warp

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

Related Words for tram

car, streetcar, gondola

Examples from the Web for tram

Contemporary Examples of tram

Eva and Adele, the Art Couple, were on my tram, both in high-collared baby-pink dresses.
Live From Art Basel
Anthony Haden-Guest
June 17, 2010
By day you'll be coerced to hike "the Peak" (I like the tram, thank you) for a quiet view of Kowloon.
Gal With a Suitcase
Jolie Hunt
January 16, 2010
Luckily, public transport (the tram) is brilliantly efficient, cost-effective, and blissfully above ground.
The Breathtaking Mosques of Istanbul
Jolie Hunt
January 9, 2010

Historical Examples of tram

She waved her hand to him as the tram drove off, and he waved his in reply.
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. Ervine
There was the tram line, if m'sieur did not care to take a fiacre.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
I'll get it before we start home and I can be reading it over all the time on the tram.
Alice Adams
Booth Tarkington
Afterwards I took the tram to Posilipo and came home by boat.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens
The tram was already gliding away at some distance down the road.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens

British Dictionary definitions for tram

tram

noun

Also called: tramcar an electrically driven public transport vehicle that runs on rails let into the surface of the road, power usually being taken from an overhead wireUS and Canadian names: streetcar, trolley car

a small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine; tub

Derived Formstramless, adjective

Word Origin for tram

C16 (in the sense: shaft of a cart): probably from Low German traam beam; compare Old Norse thrömr, Middle Dutch traem beam, tooth of a rake

tram

noun

machinery a fine adjustment that ensures correct function or alignment

verb trams, tramming or trammed

(tr) to adjust (a mechanism) to a fine degree of accuracy

Word Origin for tram

C19: short for trammel

tram

noun

(in weaving) a weft yarn of two or more twisted strands of silk

Word Origin for tram

C17: from French trame, from Latin trāma; related to Latin trāns across, trāmes footpath

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 tram

c.1500, "beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge," also "a barrow or truck body" (1510s), Scottish, originally in reference to the iron trucks used in coal mines, probably from Middle Flemish tram "beam, handle of a barrow, bar, rung," a North Sea Germanic word of unknown origin. The sense of "track for a barrow, tramway" is first recorded 1826; that of "streetcar" is first recorded 1860. Tram-car is attested from 1873.