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tram - 13 dictionary results

tram

1[tram] ,noun, verb, trammed, tram⋅ming.
–noun
1. British. a streetcar.
2. a tramway; tramroad.
3. Also called tram⋅car [tram-kahr] . a truck or car on rails for carrying loads in a mine.
4. the vehicle or cage of an overhead carrier.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
5. to convey or travel by tram.

Origin:
1490–1500 for an earlier sense; 1820–30 for def. 2; orig. shafts of a barrow or cart, rails for carts (in mines); perh. < MD trame beam


tramless, adjective

tram

2[tram] ,noun, verb, trammed, tram⋅ming.
–noun
1. trammel (def. 3).
–verb (used with object)
2. Machinery. to adjust (something) correctly.

Origin:
1880–85; short for trammel

tram

3[tram] ,
–noun
silk that has been slightly or loosely twisted, used weftwise in weaving silk fabrics.
Compare organzine.


Origin:
1300–50 for an earlier sense; 1670–80 for current sense; ME tram(m)e machination, contrivance < OF traime weft, cunning contrivance < L trāma warp

tram⋅mel

[tram-uhl] noun, verb, -meled, -mel⋅ing or (especially British) -melled, -mel⋅ling.
–noun
1. Usually, trammels. a hindrance or impediment to free action; restraint: the trammels of custom.
2. an instrument for drawing ellipses.
3. Also called tram. a device used to align or adjust parts of a machine.
4. trammel net.
5. a fowling net.
6. a contrivance hung in a fireplace to support pots or kettles over the fire.
7. a fetter or shackle, esp. one used in training a horse to amble.
–verb (used with object)
8. to involve or hold in trammels; restrain.
9. to catch or entangle in or as in a net.

Origin:
1325–75; ME tramayle < MF tramail, var. of tremail three-mesh net < LL trēmaculum, equiv. to L trē(s) three + macula mesh


tram⋅mel⋅er; especially British, tram⋅mel⋅ler, noun


1. drag, hobble, curb, inhibition. 8. hinder, impede, obstruct, encumber.
tram 1   (trām)   
n.  
  1. Chiefly British
    1. A streetcar.
    2. A streetcar line.
  2. A cable car, especially one suspended from an overhead cable.
  3. A four-wheeled, open, box-shaped wagon or iron car run on tracks in a coal mine.
tr.v.   trammed, tram·ming, trams
To move or convey in a tram.

[Scots, shaft of a barrow, probably from Middle Flemish.]
tram 2   (trām)   
n.  
  1. An instrument for gauging and adjusting machine parts; a trammel.
  2. Accurate mechanical adjustment: The device is in tram.
tr.v.   trammed, tram·ming, trams
To adjust or align (mechanical parts) with a trammel.

[Short for trammel.]
tram 3   (trām)   
n.  A heavy silk thread used for the weft, or cross threads, in fine velvet or silk.

[Middle English, contrivance, from Old French traime, contrivance, weft, from Latin trāma, weft, woof.]

Tram

Tram\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Tramming.] To convey or transport on a tramway or on a tram car.

Tram

Tram\, v. i. To operate, or conduct the business of, a tramway; to travel by tramway.

Tram

Tram\, n. (Mech.) Same as Trammel, n., 6.

Tram

Tram\, n. [Prov. E. tram a coal wagon, the shaft of a cart or carriage, a beam or bar; probably of Scand, origin; cf. OSw. tr[*a]m, trum, a beam, OD. drom, Prov. & OHG. tram.]

1. A four-wheeled truck running on rails, and used in a mine, as for carrying coal or ore.

2. The shaft of a cart. [Prov. Eng.] --De Quincey.

3. One of the rails of a tramway.

4. A car on a horse railroad. [Eng.]

Tram car, a car made to run on a tramway, especially a street railway car.

Tram plate, a flat piece of iron laid down as a rail.

Tram pot (Milling), the step and support for the lower end of the spindle of a millstone.

Tram

Tram\, n. [Sp. trama weft, or F. trame.] A silk thread formed of two or more threads twisted together, used especially for the weft, or cross threads, of the best quality of velvets and silk goods.
Language Translation for : tram
Spanish: tranvía,
German: die Straßenbahn,
Japanese: 市街電車

tram 
c.1500, "beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge," also "a barrow or truck body" (1516), Scottish, originally in reference to the iron trucks used in coal mines, probably from Middle Flemish tram "beam, handle of a barrow, bar, rung," a North Sea Gmc. word of unknown origin. The sense of "track for a barrow, tramway" is first recorded 1826; that of "streetcar" is first recorded 1860. Tram-car is attested from 1873.
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