piggyback

[ pig-ee-bak ]
See synonyms for: piggybackpiggybackedpiggybackingpiggybacks on Thesaurus.com

adverb
  1. on the back or shoulders: The little girl rode her father piggyback.

adjective
  1. astride the back or shoulders: a piggyback ride.

  2. sharing commercial time, space, etc.: piggyback advertising.

  1. carryable or attachable: a piggyback turbine unit.

  2. added or tacked on; supplementary: a piggyback clause.

  3. noting or pertaining to the carrying of one vehicle or the like by another, as the carrying of loaded truck trailers on flatcars.

verb (used with object)
  1. to attach or ally to as or as if a part of the same thing: to piggyback human rights agreements with foreign aid.

  2. to carry (somebody) on the back or shoulders.

  1. to carry (truck trailers) by railroad on flatcars.

  2. Radio and Television Slang. to advertise (two or more products) in the same commercial.

verb (used without object)
  1. to be transported aboard or atop another carrier: The space shuttle piggybacked on the airplane.

  2. to use, appropriate, or exploit the availability, services, or facilities of another: private clinics piggybacking on federal healthcare facilities.

  1. to carry truck trailers by railroad on flatcars.

noun
  1. a house trailer designed to fit over a pickup truck.

  2. a truck trailer carried on a flatcar.

  1. anything that operates in connection with or as part of another.

Origin of piggyback

1
First recorded in 1580–90; alteration of pickaback

Words Nearby piggyback

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use piggyback in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for piggyback

piggyback

pickaback

/ (ˈpɪɡɪˌbæk) /


noun
  1. a ride on the back and shoulders of another person

  2. a system whereby a vehicle, aircraft, etc, is transported for part of its journey on another vehicle, such as a flat railway wagon, another aircraft, etc

adverb
  1. on the back and shoulders of another person

  2. on or as an addition to something else

adjective
  1. of or for a piggyback: a piggyback ride; piggyback lorry trains

  2. of or relating to a type of heart transplant in which the transplanted heart functions in conjunction with the patient's own heart

verb(tr)
  1. to give (a person) a piggyback on one's back and shoulders

  2. to transport (one vehicle) on another

  1. (intr often foll by on) to exploit an existing resource, system, or product

  2. (tr) to attach to or mount on (an existing piece of equipment or system)

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