railroad

Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From rail + road.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

railroad (plural railroads)

1. 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. The transportation system comprising such roads and vehicles fitted to travel on the rails, usually with several vehicles connected together in a train.
3. 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. (figuratively) A procedure conducted or bullied in haste without due consideration.

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

Synonyms

• railway

Derived terms

• railroad flat
• railroad track

Translations

permanent road consisting of fixed metal rails — see railway

transportation system — see railway

unduely hasted procedure

• Dutch: sneltreinprocedure m and f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: fervojo
• Italian: ferrovia f
• Korean: 철도 (cheoldo)

• Spanish: ferrocarril m, riel m
• Veps: raudte

Verb

railroad (third-person singular simple present railroads, present participle railroading, simple past and past participle railroaded)

1. (transitive) To transport via railroad.
2. (intransitive) To operate a railroad.

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

3. (intransitive) To work for a railroad.
4. (intransitive) To engage in a hobby pertaining to railroads.
5. (transitive) 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.

6. (transitive) To convict of a crime by circumventing due process.

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

7. (transitive) To procedurally bully someone into an unfair agreement.

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

Derived terms

• railroader

Translations

to transport via railroad

• Dutch: versporen
• Hungarian: vasúton szállít

• Japanese: 鉄道輸送する (ja) (tetsudō-yusō suru)

to work for a railroad

• Dutch: aan het spoor werken

to operate a railroad

• Dutch: (een) spoorweg(en) uitbaten

• Japanese: (phrase) 鉄道を経営する (ja) (tetsudō wo keiei suru)

to engage in a hobby pertaining to railroads

• Japanese: (phrase) 鉄道模型をする (ja) (tetsudō-mokei wo suru)

to manipulate and hasten a procedure

• Dutch: (iets) er (met de knoet) doorjagen

to prepare a rapid summary process

• Hungarian: keresztülhajt (hu)

• Japanese: (phrase) 強引に通過させる (ja) (gōin ni tsūka saseru)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked