Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A self-propelled vehicle, usually electric or diesel-powered, for pulling or pushing freight or passenger cars on railroad tracks.
  • noun A driving or pulling force; an impetus.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or involved in locomotion.
  • adjective Serving to put into motion or propel forward.
  • adjective Able to move independently from place to place.
  • adjective Of or relating to a self-propelled locomotive.
  • adjective Of or relating to travel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Moving from place to place; changing place, or able to effect change of (its own) place: as, a locomotive animal.
  • Having the power to produce motion, or to move (something else) from place to place: as, a locomotive organ of the body; a locomotive engine.
  • Of or pertaining to locomotion; locomotory.
  • noun A steam-engine which travels on wheels turned by its own power; specifically, an engine designed and adapted to travel on a railway; a railroad-engine.
  • noun Geared locomotives having toothed driving-wheels, the teeth of which engage a rack, are used for steep grades in mountain railways.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A locomotive engine; a self-propelling wheel carriage, especially one which bears a steam boiler and one or more steam engines which communicate motion to the wheels and thus propel the carriage, -- used to convey goods or passengers, or to draw wagons, railroad cars, etc. See Illustration in Appendix.
  • noun a locomotive having four pairs of connected drivers.
  • noun [U.S.] a locomotive and a car combined in one vehicle; a dummy engine.
  • noun Same as Locomotive, above.
  • noun See Mogul.
  • adjective Moving from place to place; changing place, or able to change place.
  • adjective Used in producing motion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of or relating to locomotion
  • adjective of or relating to the power unit of a train which does not carry passengers or freight itself
  • noun rail transport The power unit of a train which does not carry passengers or freight itself, but pulls the coaches or rail cars or wagons.
  • noun rare A traction engine
  • noun slang A cheer characterized by a slow beginning and a progressive increase in speed
  • noun economics A country which drives the world economy by having a high level of imports. (i.e. The United States).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to locomotion
  • noun a wheeled vehicle consisting of a self-propelled engine that is used to draw trains along railway tracks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Pertaining to movement from French locomotif (feminine locomotive), from Latin loco from a place (ablativus of locus place) + Vulgar Latin motivus moving (see motive)

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Stop; Look; Listen.

    1912 slogan that replaced that of the old US railway-crossing signs that said "Look out for the locomotive".

    September 25, 2009

  • locomotive: A train with insane ideas.

    September 25, 2009

  • JM knows that train robbers must have a locomotive.

    May 25, 2011