Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The metal grille or frame projecting from the front of a locomotive and serving to clear the track of obstructions.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A strong frame in front of a locomotive, for removing obstructions, such as strayed cattle, from the rails. It is generally made of wrought-iron in the form of a coned wedge, having a flat wedge-shaped bottom bar placed a few inches above, and extending across and a little beyond, the rails. Also called
pilot .
Wiktionary
- n. archaic, rail transport The V-shaped device on the front of a locomotive (or other large vehicle) shaped so as to push objects on the tracks out of the way, to prevent major damage to the train.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. U.S. A strong inclined frame, usually of wrought-iron bars, in front of a locomotive engine, for catching or throwing off obstructions on a railway, as cattle; the
pilot .
WordNet 3.0
- n. an inclined metal frame at the front of a locomotive to clear the track
Examples
“The cowcatcher was a large and important structure in the early days of railroading, but it has become relatively useless with the decrease of grade crossings and the construction of more complete lines of fence.”
“And I never had much trouble with the Spiggoties, what of letting them sneak free rides in the tender or on the cowcatcher.”
“And then I spotted her, crouched down right against the cowcatcher, that close I'd almost stepped on her.”
“New Yorkers called the lot "the cowcatcher" or "the flatiron, because its triangular shape recalled the common household tool used for pressing clothing and linens.”
The Washington Post: Book review of "Flatiron," about a Manhattan landmark
“Hmmm, unless I'm much mistaken this is the Agricultural Android Model 350 complete with abdominal cowcatcher.”
“They took Nellie down to the tracks, but were most upset to find she wouldn't fit and while they were wondering what ever to do they were gently scooped up by the cowcatcher of the Elmer K. Pheffenfeifer, which was just pulling out for the Deep South.”
“Need a cowcatcher on the front of the truck, just like that Dodge in the remake of Death Race.”
“We need a cowcatcher to clear traffic! and a bagpipe and fiddle song playing in the background on repeat.”
“My brother dashed out of the house, ran to the end of our lane and discovered a mangled mass jammed on the cowcatcher of the massive locomotive.”
Simon & Schuster: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs
“Sophie sat down hard, her feet splayed out, her lower lip pushed out like the cowcatcher on a steam engine.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cowcatcher’.
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Cattle
cattle, cow, beef, steer, heifer, calf, bull, cattle call, Black Angus, Hereford, Holstein, Dwarf Lulu and 402 more...
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by train
Bits and pieces of train engines, cars and carriages. Terms for various types of trains and train cars live here toot I mean too.
jaw-bit, truck-bolster, arch-bar, car-truck, swing-motion, horn-plate, pedestal, axle-guard, car-body, rolling-stock, swing-hanger, spring-plank and 140 more...
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Peregrination
thoroughfare, peripatetic, wanderlust, cowcatcher, peregrination, itinerant, nomadic, vagabond, gadabout, exclave, caboose, viaduct and 3 more...
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auntnanny's Words
falafel, mittens, vespa, kudzu, fruity, saucy, icon, surreal, unity, suggestive, bizarre, angler and 14 more...
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mdcclv's Words
froworker, cowcatcher, paper discovery, sunload, thumb down, hatefuck, solon, flightseeing, interestrange
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cowcatcher.
treeseed In railroading, the pilot is the device mounted at the front of a locomotive to deflect obstacles from the track that might otherwise derail the train. Archaically this was called a cowcatcher, and this is still the common layman's usage, but this term is deprecated and has not been used by railroad workers for more than a century.
_Wikipedia
Feb 3, 2008
Orion Montoya In "Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz" by George Saunders, used of the folded paper holder that a hot dog comes in. (Heard in act two of this This American Life episode. Dec 1, 2007