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tram

 - 9 dictionary results
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tram

1  [tram] ,noun, verb, trammed, tram⋅ming.
Use tram in a Sentence
–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

Related forms:
tramless, adjective
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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

Related forms:
tram⋅mel⋅er; especially British, tram⋅mel⋅ler, noun

Synonyms:
1. drag, hobble, curb, inhibition. 8. hinder, impede, obstruct, encumber.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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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.]
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

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.

trammel  (n.)
1363 (implied in trammeller) "net to catch fish," from M.Fr. tramail, from O.Fr. (c.1220), from L.L. tremaculum, perhaps meaning "a net made from three layers of meshes," from L. tri- "three" + macula "a mesh." It. tramaglio, Sp. trasmallo are Fr. loan-words. The verb is attested from 1536, originally "to bind up (a corpse);" sense of "hinder, restrain" is from 1727.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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