Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A locomotive engine sent on before a railway-train to see the way is clear, especially as a precursor to a train conveying important personages.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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If it should turn out to be a particularly heavy train, the driver will request the pilot-engine driver to hook on and go perhaps as far as
The Stoker's Catechism W. J. Connor
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John, in fine, was playing the part of a pilot-engine.
The Hill A Romance of Friendship Horace Annesley Vachell 1908
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John, in fine, was playing the part of a pilot-engine.
The Hill A Romance of Friendship Horace Annesley Vachell 1908
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Yet they know that before it comes the pilot-engine will come, running ahead about so many minutes to insure the safety of the way.
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The coming of the pilot-engine heightens the intensity of watching, for now soon the king will come.
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To the accustomed ears the whistle and clank of a checked and angry pilot-engine might have been discerned amid the hullabaloo; but to one whose experience in such matters was small, it might have seemed as though six or seven mad engines were sitting up on end, like monster rabbits on a bank, pawing the air and screaming out their hearts in the wild delirium of unlimited power and ungovernable fury.
The Iron Horse 1859
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