tram-carn.
/ˈtramkɑː/, U.S. /ˈtræmˌkɑr/ A public car or carriage running on a tram-way for the conveyance of passengers; called earlier tramway car, and already in 1879 simply tram (tram n.2 6). tram-carriage n. at tram n.2 Compounds 1a is cited 1868.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > tramcar
streetcar1832
road car1834
tram-carriage1868
tramway car1872
tram-car1873
surface car1879
tram1879
car1890
railbus1932
1873 Engineer 28 Nov. 353 A trial of Grantham's steam tram car.
1876 Engineer 26 May 400 A heavy vehicle such as an omnibus or a tram car.
1879 Trans. Soc. Engineers 195 The Italian tram cars enabled him to see nearly the whole of the city of Turin for..sixpence.
1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius xiii The ceaseless ring of the tram-cars stopping every few steps to pick up a passenger.
1905 R. Bagot Passport iii In a quiet and secluded position..undisturbed by the noise of the tram-cars.
Draft additions June 2014
Military slang. A shell. Cf. streetcar n. 3. Now rare.
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1915 E. L. MacNachtan Let. in Cobourg World 28 May 4/2 The English Tommies call them 'Tram Cars: from the peculiar rumbling roar they make flying through the air. It is exactly like a tram-car or street car as we Canadians call them.
1950 R. Chandler Let. 18 May (1966) 78 Doesn't he [sc. Partridge] overlook some of the most commonly used words of soldier-slang? E.g...‘street cars’ or ‘tram cars’ for heavy long range shells.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1873