Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Railway
{
Rail′roadˊ
(rāl′rōdˊ)
, Rail′wayˊ
(rāl′wāˊ)
, } Noun.
1.
A road or way consisting of one or more parallel series of iron or steel rails, patterned and adjusted to be tracks for the wheels of vehicles, and suitably supported on a bed or substructure.
☞ The modern railroad is a development and adaptation of the older tramway.
2.
The road, track, etc., with all the lands, buildings, rolling stock, franchises, etc., pertaining to them and constituting one property;
as, a certain
. railroad
has been put into the hands of a receiver☞ Railway is the commoner word in England; railroad the commoner word in the United States.
☞ In the following and similar phrases railroad and railway are used interchangeably: –
Atmospheric railway
, Elevated railway
etc. See under
– Atmospheric
, Elevated
, etc. Cable railway
. See
– Cable road
, under Cable
. Ferry railway
, a submerged track on which an elevated platform runs, for carrying a train of cars across a water course.
– Gravity railway
, a railway, in a hilly country, on which the cars run by gravity down gentle slopes for long distances after having been hauled up steep inclines to an elevated point by stationary engines.
– Railway brake
, a brake used in stopping railway cars or locomotives.
– Railway car
, a large, heavy vehicle with flanged wheels fitted for running on a railway.
[U.S.]
– Railway carriage
, a railway passenger car.
[Eng.]
– Railway scale
, a platform scale bearing a track which forms part of the line of a railway, for weighing loaded cars.
– Railway slide
. See
– Transfer table
, under Transfer
. Railway spine
(Med.)
, an abnormal condition due to severe concussion of the spinal cord, such as occurs in railroad accidents. It is characterized by ataxia and other disturbances of muscular function, sensory disorders, pain in the back, impairment of general health, and cerebral disturbance, – the symptoms often not developing till some months after the injury.
– Underground railroad
Underground railway
(a)
A railroad or railway running through a tunnel, as beneath the streets of a city
. (b)
Formerly, a system of cooperation among certain active antislavery people in the
United States
prior to 1866, by which fugitive slaves were secretly helped to reach Canada
. [In the latter sense railroad, and not railway, was usually used.]
“Their house was a principal entrepôt of the underground railroad.” W. D. Howells.
Definition 2024
railway
railway
English
Noun
railway (plural railways)
- (chiefly Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth of Nations) A track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.
- (chiefly Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth of Nations) A transport system using these rails used to move passengers or goods.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
-
Synonyms
- (track): railroad track
- (system): (US) railroad
Translations
track, consisting of parallel rails
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transport system using these rails
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