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railroaded

 - 3 dictionary results

rail⋅road

  [reyl-rohd]
Use railroaded in a Sentence
–noun
1. a permanent road laid with rails, commonly in one or more pairs of continuous lines forming a track or tracks, on which locomotives and cars are run for the transportation of passengers, freight, and mail.
2. an entire system of such roads together with its rolling stock, buildings, etc.; the entire railway plant, including fixed and movable property.
3. the company of persons owning or operating such a plant.
4. Bowling. a split.
5. railroads, stocks or bonds of railroad companies.
–verb (used with object)
6. to transport by means of a railroad.
7. to supply with railroads.
8. Informal. to push (a law or bill) hastily through a legislature so that there is not time enough for objections to be considered.
9. Informal. to convict (a person) in a hasty manner by means of false charges or insufficient evidence: The prisoner insisted he had been railroaded.
–verb (used without object)
10. to work on a railroad.
Origin:
1750–60; 1875–85 for def. 9; rail 1 + road
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To railroaded
rail·road   (rāl'rōd')   
n.  

  1. A road composed of parallel steel rails supported by ties and providing a track for locomotive-drawn trains or other wheeled vehicles.

  2. A system of railroad track, together with the land, stations, rolling stock, and other related property under one management.

v.   rail·road·ed, rail·road·ing, rail·roads

v.   tr.

  1. To transport by railroad.

  2. To supply (an area) with railroads.

  3. Informal

    1. To rush or push (something) through quickly in order to prevent careful consideration and possible criticism or obstruction: railroad a special-interest bill through Congress.

    2. To convict (an accused person) without a fair trial or on trumped-up charges.

v.   intr.
To work for a railroad company.
rail'road'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

railroad  (n.)
1757, from rail (n.1) + road. Originally "road laid with rails for heavy wagons (in mining)." The system itself seems to have been in use by late 17c. Application to passenger and freight trains dates from 1825, though tending to be replaced in this sense in England by railway (1812). The verb meaning "to convict quickly and perhaps unjustly" is from 1884.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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