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tram

 Origin

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.

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Tram is one of our favorite verbs.
So is skedaddle. Does it mean:
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
to run away hurriedly; flee.
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Origin:
1490–1500 for an earlier sense; 1820–30 for def. 2; orig. shafts of a barrow or cart, rails for carts (in mines); perhaps < Middle Dutch trame beam

Related forms
tram·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

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; Middle English tram(m)e machination, contrivance < Old French traime weft, cunning contrivance < Latin trāma warp
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To tram
Collins
World English Dictionary
tram1 (træm)
 
—n
1.  Also called: tramcar, streetcar, US and Canadian names: trolley car an electrically driven public transport vehicle that runs on rails let into the surface of the road, power usually being taken from an overhead wire
2.  a small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine; tub
 
[C16 (in the sense: shaft of a cart): probably from Low German traam beam; compare Old Norse thrömr, Middle Dutch traem beam, tooth of a rake]
 
'tramless1
 
—adj

tram2 (træm)
 
—n
1.  machinery a fine adjustment that ensures correct function or alignment
 
—vb , trams, tramming, trammed
2.  (tr) to adjust (a mechanism) to a fine degree of accuracy
 
[C19: short for trammel]

tram3 (træm)
 
—n
(in weaving) a weft yarn of two or more twisted strands of silk
 
[C17: from French trame, from Latin trāma; related to Latin trāns across, trāmes footpath]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
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,
EXPAND
tramway" is first recorded 1826; that of "streetcar" is first recorded 1860. Tram-car is attested from 1873.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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