What does railroad mean?

Definitions for railroad
ˈreɪlˌroʊdrail·road

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word railroad.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. railway, railroad, railroad line, railway line, railway systemnoun

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

  2. railroad track, railroad, railwayverb

    a line of track providing a runway for wheels

    "he walked along the railroad track"

  3. dragoon, sandbag, railroadverb

    compel by coercion, threats, or crude means

    "They sandbagged him to make dinner for everyone"

  4. railroadverb

    supply with railroad lines

    "railroad the West"

  5. railroadverb

    transport by railroad

Wiktionary

  1. railroadnoun

    A permanent road consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on.

    Many railroads roughly follow the trace of older land - and/or water roads

  2. railroadnoun

    The transportation system comprising such roads and vehicles fitted to travel on the rails, usually with several vehicles connected together in a train.

  3. railroadnoun

    A single, privately or publicly owned property comprising one or more such roads and usually associated assets

    Railroads can only compete fully if their tracks are technically compatible with and linked to each-other

  4. railroadnoun

    A procedure conducted or bullied in haste without due consideration.

    The lawyers made the procedure a railroad to get the signatures they needed.

  5. railroadverb

    To transport via railroad.

  6. railroadverb

    To operate a railroad.

    The Thatcherite experiment proved the private sector can railroad as inefficiently as a state monopoly

  7. railroadverb

    To work for a railroad.

  8. railroadverb

    To engage in a hobby pertaining to railroads.

  9. railroadverb

    To manipulate and hasten a procedure, as of formal approval of a law or resolution.

    The majority railroaded the bill through parliament, without the customary expert studies which would delay it till after the elections.

  10. railroadverb

    To convict of a crime by circumventing due process.

    They could only convict him by railroading him on suspect drug-possession charges.

  11. railroadverb

    To procedurally bully someone into an unfair agreement.

    He was railroaded into signing a non-disclosure agreement at his exit interview.

  12. Etymology: From rail + road.

Wikipedia

  1. railroad

    Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway electrification system or produce their own power, usually by diesel engines or, historically, steam engines. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system. Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. Railway transport is capable of high levels of passenger and cargo utilisation and energy efficiency, but is often less flexible and more capital-intensive than road transport, when lower traffic levels are considered. The oldest known, man/animal-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC in Corinth, Greece. Rail transport then commenced in mid 16th century in Germany in the form of horse-powered funiculars and wagonways. Modern rail transport commenced with the British development of the steam locomotive in Merthyr Tydfil when Richard Trevithick ran a steam locomotive and loaded wagons between Penydarren Ironworks and Abercynon in 1802. Thus the railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world. Built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the Locomotion No. 1 is the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. George Stephenson also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use only the steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for "national markets" in which prices varied very little from city to city. The spread of the railway network and the use of railway timetables, led to the standardisation of time (railway time) in Britain based on Greenwich Mean Time. Prior to this, major towns and cities varied their local time relative to GMT. The invention and development of the railway in the United Kingdom was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway (part of the London Underground), opened in 1863. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, leading to electrification of tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by the 2000s. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan and later in some other countries. Many countries are in the process of replacing diesel locomotives with electric locomotives, mainly due to environmental concerns, a notable example being Switzerland, which has completely electrified its network. Other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. Following a decline after World War II due to competition from cars and aeroplanes, rail transport has had a revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO2 emissions in the context of concerns about global warming.

ChatGPT

  1. railroad

    A railroad, also known as a railway, is a system of transportation that utilizes a series of connected steel tracks to enable the movement of specially designed vehicles, known as trains, to carry people, goods, and materials. The entire network includes the actual tracks, blocks, signals, stations, and other related facilities and equipment. The term can also refer to companies that operate these transportation systems.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Railroadnoun

    alt. of Railway

Wikidata

  1. Railroad

    Railroad is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 278 at the 2010 census.

Editors Contribution

  1. railroad

    A type of transportation structure and system.

    The railroad works efficiently and provides an effective and efficient transport system.


    Submitted by MaryC on March 11, 2020  

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of railroad in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of railroad in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of railroad in a Sentence

  1. Chief Executive Luc Jobin:

    We don't need that fleet, this is good news for society. I think it's good news for the railroad, from a safety point of view.

  2. Michael Bloomberg:

    This is a manager job and Donald Trump is not Donald Trump, this is a job where you have to build teams. Donald Trump doesn't have teams so Donald Trump makes decisions without knowing what's going or the implications for what Donald Trump does. We can not run the railroad this way.

  3. Joss Whedon:

    Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track.

  4. Ardelio Vargas:

    The consequences of a railroad accident with 700 or 1,200 migrants on board would have been very regrettable, we can't be so irresponsible as to allow migrants to continue risking their lives on a freight line that has all the deficiencies it has.

  5. Ryan Navales:

    Skid Row has become less transient, the history of skid row goes back to a transient neighborhood associated with the railroad. The true definition of transient is short term. Now it's long term. It's become a neighborhood.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for railroad

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"railroad." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/railroad>.

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