railroad

American  

[reyl-rohd] / ˈreɪlˌroʊd /

noun

1. a permanent road laid with rails, rail, 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.

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

3. the company of persons owning or operating such a plant.

4. Bowling. a split.

5. railroads, stocks or bonds of railroad companies.

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verb (used with object)

1. to transport by means of a railroad.

2. to supply with railroads.

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

4. 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)

1. to work on a railroad.

railroad British  

/ ˈreɪlˌrəʊd /

noun

1. the usual US word for railway

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verb

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

Other Word Forms

• nonrailroad adjective
• prerailroad adjective
• prorailroad adjective
• unrailroaded adjective

Etymology

Origin of railroad

1750–60; 1875–85 railroad for def. 9; rail ¹ + road

Example Sentences

The company will use the funding to conduct a paid pilot with a Class 1 railroad, testing its battery retrofit and dynamic charging system.

From The Wall Street Journal

Migration from Jalisco to California and other states dates to the late 1800s with the construction and expansion of the railroad systems in Mexico and the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

Investment banking went on to underwrite construction of the railroad, the telephone, and an industrial revolution that turned America into an economic and military superpower.

From Barron's

The Victorian-era town with dramatic cliffs is on the windswept northeast coast and was developed as a resort by a Quaker mining and railroad magnate in 1861.

From The Wall Street Journal

And number three was Kansas City Southern, a railroad.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• rail line
• railway
• subway