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Glite Dictionary
section gang

section gang

7.3
A group of workers who maintain a section of railway track
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : grupo de mantenimiento
  • Every summer, the section gang works hard to ensure the railway line is safe for travelers.

Examples

  • The section gang is responsible for repairing the tracks in their designated area.

  • "The section gang from Wilmington is not going to work their regular route today," he said, "so we're going to have to do their part too."

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The manager announced that the section gang will start maintenance work on Monday.

Synonyms

section
vssection gang
389 2.4

A group within a larger organization, like an orchestra or company team

is a small worker team with a fixed maintenance area on railways
gang
vssection gang
301 2.2

A group of people who work together on a job

is an organized maintenance crew assigned to a specific railway stretch

Surface Forms

section gang singular
section gangs plural

Morphology

section + gang

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'section' (a team or department) + 'gang' (a group of workers), so 'section gang' straightforwardly denotes a group responsible for a particular section. This follows common English compounding patterns (cf. 'work gang') and is likely to be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Section gang comes from railway work. A small gang (group) was put in charge of one section (stretch) of track and spent its days fixing rails and keeping that part safe, so the phrase means 'a group of workers responsible for maintaining a particular section of a railway line'.