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railroad definition

rail·road (rāl′rōd′)

noun

  1. a road laid with parallel steel rails along which cars carrying passengers or freight are drawn by locomotives
  2. a complete system of such roads, including land, rolling stock, stations, etc.
  3. the persons or corporation owning and managing such a system

transitive verb

  1. ☆ to transport by railroad
  2. ☆ Informal to rush through quickly, esp. so quickly as to prevent careful consideration to railroad a bill through Congress
  3. ☆ Slang to cause to go to prison on a trumped-up charge or with too hasty a trial

intransitive verb

☆ to work on a railroad

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

railroad Synonyms

railroad

n.

track, line, railway, trains, rails, elevated, underground, subway, métro (French), tube (British), commuter line, cable railway, monorail, cog railway, sidetrack, siding, passing track, loading track, feeder line, main line, double track, single track, trunk line, transcontinental railroad, system, el*, iron horse*; see also train 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

railroad Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • build: Examples include building a railroad, or a factory, clearing land, or putting oneself through college.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • through: This has led to crisis year after year where cuts have been proposed and railroaded through.

Adjective modifier

  • transcontinental: Want to create a race to complete a transcontinental railroad in 30 years using only steam engines?

Modifies a noun

  • ty: Would you believe that they are now going to ban railroad sleepers ( railroad ties )?

Noun used with modifier

  • island: River explorer was island railroad company paul on the.
railroad usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

railroad quotes

There was a rocky valley between Buxton and Bakewell†divine as the vale of Tempe; you might have seen the gods there morning and eveningöApollo and the sweet Muses of the Light† You enterprised a railroad†you blasted its rocks away† And, now, every fool in Buxton can be at Bakewell in half-an-hour, and every fool in Bakewell at Buxton.

-Ruskin,John

We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.

-Thoreau, Henry David

railroad quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"railroad." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/railroad>

APA Style

railroad. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/railroad

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