Library / English Dictionary

RAILROAD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A line of track providing a runway for wheels

Example:

he walked along the railroad track

Synonyms:

railroad; railroad track; railway

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("railroad" is a kind of...):

track (a pair of parallel rails providing a runway for wheels)

Meronyms (parts of "railroad"):

crosstie; railroad tie; sleeper; tie (one of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track)

rail; rails; runway; track (a bar or pair of parallel bars of rolled steel making the railway along which railroad cars or other vehicles can roll)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "railroad"):

broad gauge (a railroad track (or its width) broader than the standard 56.5 inches)

gantlet (the convergence of two parallel railroad tracks in a narrow place; the inner rails cross and run parallel and then diverge so a train remains on its own tracks at all times)

narrow gauge (a railroad track (or its width) narrower than the standard 56.5 inches)

railroad siding; sidetrack; siding; turnout (a short stretch of railroad track used to store rolling stock or enable trains on the same line to pass)

standard gauge (railroad track having the standard width of 56.5 inches)

switch (railroad track having two movable rails and necessary connections; used to turn a train from one track to another or to store rolling stock)

Holonyms ("railroad" is a part of...):

line; rail line; railway line (the road consisting of railroad track and roadbed)

Derivation:

railroad (transport by railroad)

railroad (supply with railroad lines)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight

Synonyms:

railroad; railroad line; railway; railway line; railway system

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("railroad" is a kind of...):

line (a commercial organization serving as a common carrier)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "railroad"):

cable railway; funicular; funicular railway (a railway up the side of a mountain pulled by a moving cable and having counterbalancing ascending and descending cars)

cog railway; rack railway (railway for steep mountains; a cogwheel on the locomotive engages cogs on a center rail to provide traction)

el; elevated; elevated railroad; elevated railway; overhead railway (a railway that is powered by electricity and that runs on a track that is raised above the street level)

metro; subway; subway system; tube; underground (an electric railway operating below the surface of the ground (usually in a city))

monorail (a railway having a single track)

rail (short for railway)

scenic railway (small railway in an amusement park)

Derivation:

railroad (transport by railroad)

railroad (supply with railroad lines)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Transport by railroad

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "railroad" is one way to...):

send; ship; transport (transport commercially)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

railroad (a line of track providing a runway for wheels)

railroad (line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight)

railroading (the activity of designing and constructing and operating railroads)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Supply with railroad lines

Example:

railroad the West

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "railroad" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

railroad (a line of track providing a runway for wheels)

railroad (line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight)

railroading (the activity of designing and constructing and operating railroads)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Compel by coercion, threats, or crude means

Example:

They sandbagged him to make dinner for everyone

Synonyms:

dragoon; railroad; sandbag

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "railroad" is one way to...):

coerce; force; hale; pressure; squeeze (to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Credits

 Context examples: 

We waited for her down the road and out of sight. It was a few days before the Fourth of July, and a grey, scrawny Italian child was setting torpedoes in a row along the railroad track.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)