RAILROAD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does railroad mean? 

• RAILROAD (noun)
  The noun RAILROAD has 2 senses:

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

2. a line of track providing a runway for wheels

  Familiarity information: RAILROAD used as a noun is rare.

• RAILROAD (verb)
  The verb RAILROAD has 3 senses:

1. compel by coercion, threats, or crude means

2. supply with railroad lines

3. transport by railroad

  Familiarity information: RAILROAD used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAILROAD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

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

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A line of track providing a runway for wheels

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

railroad; railroad track; railway

Context example:

he walked along the railroad track

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)

• RAILROAD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they railroad    ... he / she / it railroads   
Past simple: railroaded   
Past participle: railroaded   
-ing form: railroading   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Compel by coercion, threats, or crude means

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

dragoon; railroad; sandbag

Context example:

They sandbagged him to make dinner for everyone

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Supply with railroad lines

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

railroad the West

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:

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)

 Context examples 

An hour later Holmes, Lestrade and I stood upon the Underground railroad at the point where it emerges from the tunnel immediately before Aldgate Station.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The planets then migrated inward, like a string of railroad cars.

('Cotton Candy' Planet Mysteries Unravel in New Hubble Observations, NASA)

No; to save two and a half on the railroad ticket.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"If I can manage the young one, I can the old one," muttered Jo, as she walked away, leaving Laurie bent over a railroad map with his head propped up on both hands.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Father's a railroad president and many times millionnaire, but the son's starving in 'Frisco, editing an anarchist sheet for twenty-five a month.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Jo remembered the kind old gentleman, who used to let her build railroads and bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever he met her in the street.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The Peri and the Pearl, a clever skit of a poem of two hundred lines, just finished, white hot from his brain, won the heart of the editor of a San Francisco magazine published in the interest of a great railroad.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Between the acts he mustered his following—three fellows he knew from the nail works, a railroad fireman, and half a dozen of the Boo Gang, along with as many more from the dread Eighteen-and-Market Gang.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I followed him over a low white-washed railroad fence and we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckleburg's persistent stare.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)