locomotive

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“
So far as I have been able to learn our locomotive was the first one built in the United States unless we except that of Peter Cooper, which is said never to have given satisfaction.

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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.
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Examples (50)

  • I believe that the engine driving the four Z generators at the power-house indicated as high as seventy horse-power at the time the locomotive was actually in service The electrical features of the 1882 locomotive were very similar to those of the earlier one, already described. —  Edison, His Life and Inventions
  • 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 Way by Lee Child
  • Bombardier ends negotiations to buy stake in Russian locomotive firm, says report —  Market News
  • Bombardier ends negotiations to buy stake in Russian locomotive firm —  Market News
  • Perhaps we should have said that his locomotive is a huge machine to which several spiralifers are attached, so that while one set raises or (by reversing the engine) depresses it, other sets drive it sideways. —  Up in the Clouds Balloon Voyages
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This word has been looked up 97 times.

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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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