locomotive

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Behind her an alien is moving down the corridor like a locomotive, a graceful skeleton shape as lethal and inhuman as you can imagine.

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Definitions (40)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun A self-propelled vehicle, usually electric or diesel-powered, for pulling or pushing freight or passenger cars on railroad tracks.
  2. noun A driving or pulling force; an impetus: "The US could no longer serve as the locomotive for the world economy” (George Soros).
  3. adjective Of, relating to, or involved in locomotion.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (29)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples

  • Behind her an alien is moving down the corridor like a locomotive, a graceful skeleton shape as lethal and inhuman as you can imagine. —  Fail-Safe, &c.
  • Inside it had low light and scarred wooden walls and a dented chrome machine as hot and long as a locomotive, and a counter. —  The Hard War
  • The vital thing about the locomotive is the builder's idea or plan, which he derived, in turn, from the inventor. —  A Librarian's Open Shelf
  • The blowing of the whistle and the ringing of the bell on the locomotive was the music of their first, second, or third honeymoon journey. " —  My Memories of Eighty Years
  • One of the principal practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous quantity of coke consumed or wasted by it — about 692 lbs. per hour when travelling — caused by the sharpness of the steam-blast in the chimney, which blew a large proportion of the burning coke into the air. —  Lives of the Engineers The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson
 

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Locomotive has been looked up 211 times, favorited 0 times, listed 5 times, and commented on twice.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin locō, from a place, ablative of locus, place + Medieval Latin mōtīvus, causing motion; see motive.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = Dutch lokomotief = German locomotiv = Danish Swedish lokomotiv = French locomotif = Spanish Portuguese Italian locomotivo, adjective, locomotiva., n., from Latin locus, a place, + Middle Latin motivus, moving: see motive.
 

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/loʊkəˈmoʊtɪv/
by American Heritage

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