Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
tram 1[tram] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for tram on Thesaurus.com noun
- British. a streetcar.
- a tramway; tramroad.
- Also called tram·car [tram-kahr] /ˈtræmˌkɑr/. a truck or car on rails for carrying loads in a mine.
- the vehicle or cage of an overhead carrier.
verb (used with or without object), trammed, tram·ming.
- to convey or travel by tram.
Origin of tram 1 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 beamRelated formstram·less, adjective tram 2[tram] noun
verb (used with object), trammed, tram·ming.
- Machinery. to adjust (something) correctly.
Origin of tram 2First recorded in 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 of tram 3 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 Related Words for tram car, streetcar, gondola Examples from the Web for tram Contemporary Examples of tram
Eva and Adele, the Art Couple, were on my tram, both in high-collared baby-pink dresses.
Anthony Haden-Guest
June 17, 2010
By day you’ll be coerced to hike “the Peak” (I like the tram, thank you) for a quiet view of Kowloon.
Jolie Hunt
January 16, 2010
Luckily, public transport (the tram) is brilliantly efficient, cost-effective, and blissfully above ground.
The Breathtaking Mosques of Istanbul
Jolie Hunt
January 9, 2010
Historical Examples of tram
She waved her hand to him as the tram drove off, and he waved his in reply.
St. John G. Ervine
There was the tram line, if m’sieur did not care to take a fiacre.
Louis Joseph Vance
I’ll get it before we start home and I can be reading it over all the time on the tram.
Booth Tarkington
Afterwards I took the tram to Posilipo and came home by boat.
Robert Hichens
The tram was already gliding away at some distance down the road.
Robert Hichens
British Dictionary definitions for tram tram 1 noun
- Also called: tramcar an electrically driven public transport vehicle that runs on rails let into the surface of the road, power usually being taken from an overhead wireUS and Canadian names: streetcar, trolley car
- a small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine; tub
Derived Formstramless, adjectiveWord Origin for tram 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 tram 2 noun
- machinery a fine adjustment that ensures correct function or alignment
verb trams, tramming or trammed
- (tr) to adjust (a mechanism) to a fine degree of accuracy
Word Origin for tram C19: short for trammel tram 3 noun
- (in weaving) a weft yarn of two or more twisted strands of silk
Word Origin for tram C17: from French trame, from Latin trāma; related to Latin trāns across, trāmes footpath Word Origin and History for tram n.
c.1500, “beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge,” also “a barrow or truck body” (1510s), 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 Germanic 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.