Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A series of connected railroad cars pulled or pushed by one or more locomotives.
- noun A long line of moving people, animals, or vehicles.
- noun The personnel, vehicles, and equipment following and providing supplies and services to a combat unit.
- noun A part of a gown that trails behind the wearer.
- noun A staff of people following in attendance; a retinue.
- noun An orderly succession of related events or thoughts; a sequence. synonym: series.
- noun A series of consequences wrought by an event; aftermath.
- noun A set of linked mechanical parts.
- noun A string of gunpowder that acts as a fuse for exploding a charge.
- intransitive verb To coach in or accustom to a mode of behavior or performance.
- intransitive verb To make proficient with specialized instruction and practice. synonym: teach.
- intransitive verb To prepare physically, as with a regimen.
- intransitive verb To cause (a plant or one's hair) to take a desired course or shape, as by manipulating.
- intransitive verb To point or direct (a gun or camera, for example) at something. synonym: aim.
- intransitive verb To let drag behind; trail.
- intransitive verb To give or undergo a course of training.
- intransitive verb To travel by railroad train.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
train-oil . - To draw or drag along; trail.
- To draw by artifice, stratagem, persuasion, or the like; entice; allure.
- To bring into some desired course or state by means of some process of instruction and exercise.
- To make proficient or efficient, as in some art or profession, by instruction, exercise, or discipline; make proficient by instruction or drill: as, to
train nurses; to train soldiers. - To tame or render docile; exercise m the performance of certain tasks or tricks: as, to
train dogs or monkeys. - To fit by proper exercise and regimen for the performance of some feat; render capable of enduring the strain incident to a contest of any kind, by a course of suitable exercise, regimen, etc.; put in suitable condition, as for a race, by preparatory exercise, etc.: as, to
train a boat's crew for a race. - To give proper or some particular shape or direction to by systematic manipulation or extension; specifically, in gardening, to extend the branches of, as on a wall, espalier, etc.
- To bring to bear; direct or aim carefully: as, to
train a gun upon a vessel or a fort. - Synonyms To school, habituate, inure. See
instruction . - To be attracted or lured.
- To exercise; impart proficiency by practice and use; drill; discipline.
- To fit one's self for the performance of some feat by preparatory regimen and exercise.
- To be under training, as a recruit for the army; be drilled for military service.
- To travel by train or by rail: sometimes with an indefinite it.
- To consort with; be on familiar terms with: as, I don't train with that crowd. Compare def. 4.
- To romp; carry on.
- noun That which is drawn along behind, or which forms the hinder part; a trail.
- noun The tail of a comet or of a meteor
- noun The tail of a bird, especially when long, large, or conspicuous. See cuts under Argus, peafowl, Phaëthon, Phasianus, Promerops, Terpsiphone, and Trogonidæ.
- noun That part of the carriage of a field-gun which rests upon the ground when the gun is unlimbered or in position for firing; the trail.
- noun A following; a body of followers or attendants; a retinue.
- noun A succession of connected things or events; a series: as, a train of circumstances.
- noun In machinery, a set of wheels, or wheels and pinions in series, through which motion is transmitted consecutively: as, the train of a watch (that is, the wheels intervening between the barrel and the escapement); the going-train of a clock (that by which the hands are turned); the striking-train (that by which the striking part is actuated).
- noun In metal-working, two or more pairs of connected rolls in a rolling-mill worked as one system; a set of rolls used in rolling various metals, especially puddled iron and steel; a roll-train.
- noun A connected line of carriages, cars, or wagons moving or intended to be moved on a railway.
- noun A string or file of animals on the march.
- noun A line of combustible material to lead fire to a charge or mine: same as
squib , 2. - noun A company in order; a procession.
- noun Suitable or proper sequence, order, or arrangement; course; process: as, everything is now in train for a settlement.
- noun A kind of sleigh used in Canada for the transportation of merchandise, wood, etc.
- noun The lure used to recall a hawk.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They were on the way to Mentone, but as they intended stopping a day in Paris, and going on by a cheaper train than the _train de luxe_, Mary did not see them again during the journey.
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The Kaiser, making the most of this timely boon, has once more been following in Bellona's train (her _train de luxe_) in search of cheap _réclame_ on the
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When the freight train had passed, they immediately proceeded on to the next station -- Adairsville -- where they were to meet the _regular down freight train_.
Daring and Suffering: A History of the Great Railroad Adventure
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And afterwards he thought of the other trains which were leaving Paris that day, the grey train and the blue train* which had preceded the white one, the green train, the yellow train, the pink train, the orange train which were following it.
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And afterwards he thought of the other trains which were leaving Paris that day, the grey train and the blue train* which had preceded the white one, the green train, the yellow train, the pink train, the orange train which were following it.
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And afterwards he thought of the other trains which were leaving Paris that day, the grey train and the blue train* which had preceded the white one, the green train, the yellow train, the pink train, the orange train which were following it.
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We are travelling to Santa Cruz, the largest city in Bolivia via a night train, infamously called ´the death train´.
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We use the term "train of thought" on a regular basis.
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We use the term "train of thought" on a regular basis.
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We use the term "train of thought" on a regular basis.
pikachu commented on the word train
Or think of a decent young citizen in a toga--perhaps too much dice, you know--coming out here in the train of some prefect, or tax-gatherer, or trader even, to mend his fortunes. -- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Assuming this is #5 on the American Heritage Dictionary definition...
March 5, 2011