Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense railroads, present participle railroading, past tense, past participle railroaded
1. countable noun
A railroad is a route between two places along which trains travel on steel rails.
[US]
...railroad tracks that led to nowhere.
The railroad finally reached Santa Barbara in 1877.
regional note: in BRIT, use railway
2. countable noun
A railroad is a company or organization that operates railway routes.
[US]
...The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.
regional note: in BRIT, use railway
3. verb
If you railroad someone into doing something, you make them do it although they do not really want to, by hurrying them and putting pressure on them.
She is a very fine actor who has refused to be railroaded into rom-coms. [VERB noun + into]
He railroaded the reforms through. [V n through]
railroad in British English
(ˈreɪlˌrəʊd)
noun
1. the usual US word for railway
verb
2. (transitive) informal
to force (a person) into (an action) with haste or by unfair means
railroad in American English
(ˈreɪlˌroʊd)
noun
1.
a road laid with parallel steel rails along which cars carrying passengers or freight are drawn by locomotives
2.
a complete system of such roads, including land, rolling stock, stations, etc.
3.
the persons or corporation owning and managing such a system
verb transitive
4. US
to transport by railroad
5. US, Informal
to rush through quickly, esp. so quickly as to prevent careful consideration
to railroad a bill through Congress
6. US, Slang
to cause to go to prison on a trumped-up charge or with too hasty a trial
verb intransitive
7. US
to work on a railroad
Derived forms
railroader (ˈrailˌroader)
noun
Examples of 'railroad' in a sentence
railroad
Her father was a railroad worker and her mother picked cotton.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Likewise, his request for a minimum wage for railroad workers was rejected.
Garraty, John Arthur The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)
I have good people who keep me going down the railroad track.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Let the nation build railroads, acquire new territory, expand its trade.
Garraty, John Arthur The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)
On his 20th birthday Mouse lay down on the railroad tracks.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Adamson Act gives railroad workers the eight-hour day.
Garraty, John Arthur The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)
I remember the bridges that go over the railroad tracks and there's a large beam that goes from one end to another.
Stanko, Elizabeth Everyday Violence (1990)
It will enjoy what can only be called a monopoly - a monopoly of a new kind, not of railroads or steel but of access to information.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
When we finally stopped, they tore open the railroad cars and we were blinded by light, because our eyes were just not used to light any more.
Kishlansky, Mark A. (editor) Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 1: From the Beginningto 1715 (1995)
In other languages
railroad
British English: railroad VERB
If you railroad someone into doing something, you make them do it although they do not really want to, by hurrying them and putting pressure on them.
He more or less railroaded the rest of the countries into recognising the new 'independent' states.
American English: railroad
Brazilian Portuguese: convencer por meio de pressão
Chinese: 迫使某人做某事通过催促和施压
European Spanish: presionar
French: forcer
German: bestürmen
Italian: forzare la mano a
Japanese: せかして～させる
Korean: ~하도록 다그치다반경
European Portuguese: convencer por meio de pressão
Latin American Spanish: presionar
All related terms of 'railroad'
railway
A railway is a route between two places along which trains travel on steel rails.
railroad car
a railway carriage or van
railroad flat
an apartment of rooms in a line, entered one from another, with no hallway
railroad line
a route between two points on a railway
railroad worm
the larva of a fruit fly, Rhagoletis pomonella , that burrows through apples , forming tunnels that sometimes appear on the skin as faint depressions or darkened trails : a serious pest of apples in colder regions of North America
railroad track
US → another name for railway track ⇒ ⇒ alongside the railroad track ⇒ ⇒ railroad tracks that led to nowhere
railroad crossing
A railroad crossing is a place where a railroad track crosses a road at the same level.
railroad station
US → another name for railway station
underground railroad
(in the pre-Civil War US) the system established by abolitionists to aid escaping slaves
elevated railway
an urban railway track built on supports above a road