Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The rail that supplies the high voltage to power a train on an electric railway.
- n. A subject that tends to be avoided because of its offensive or controversial nature: "Social Security, the 'third rail' of American politics” ( Charles Stein).
Wiktionary
- n. The electrified rail that runs besides, or between train tracks to power electric trains.
- n. by extension anything that is dangerous to come into contact with, or is best avoided
GNU Webster's 1913
- colloq., colloq. The third rail used in the third-rail system.
- colloq. An electric railway using such a rail.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a rail through which electric current is supplied to an electric locomotive
Examples
“In his haste to stab Taylor he'd ignored what was just beyond her body — what she'd been trying to sucker him into hitting the electrified third rail of the subway, which held more amperage than an electric chair.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘third rail’.
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Fun phrases & Idioms2
deep-six, jump the gun, play hardball, race against time, slam dunk, blind-sided, rock the boat, cold hard cash, gravy train, monkey business, smell a rat, bang for the buck and 87 more...
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Railroading
trackage, belt line, track walkers, bullet train, highballing, intermodal, shortlines, recrew, roadmaster, knuckle-couplers, boxcar, piggybacking and 17 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for third rail.
oroboros In politics, Social Security benefits. Don't touch 'em!! Aug 9, 2009