subway train
7
2.1
- noun
- /ˈsʌbˌweɪ treɪn/
- US
:
tren de metro
- In the dream, I followed him, detective-like, slinking through museums, coffee shops, libraries, and subway trains, hoping he'd lead me to my mother.
- subway train passes
- rumble of a subway train
- front of a subway train
Examples
-
Daniel could hear the sound of the subway trains going by on the elevated platform next to his Uncle Harry's building.
Fiction book (1990) -
Rumbling sounds fill the little chamber as a subway train passes directly underneath.
Fiction book (1992) -
I think we have the entire subway train to ourselves.
-
And how do we get to the last subway train?
-
The only chance you have to cross the city without getting run over or caught is to take the last subway train.
-
Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus.
Blog text (23) -
We boarded the subway train.
Fiction book (1998) -
Commuters crowd and rush to avoid waiting a few minutes for a later subway train.
Academic text (1992) -
The standard weekday operating schedule has the first subway train departing at 5:05 AM and the last train departing at 1:00 AM.
Academic text (2016) -
I think we have the entire subway train to ourselves.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A long set of connected cars that carries people on rails
8
1.5
A train that carries people, not goods
1
1.8
A long line of connected cars that runs on tracks and carries people or goods
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a train designed to operate within an underground urban railway system' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'subway' (underground railway) with 'train' (series of carriages). This straightforward noun–noun composition follows common lexical compounding patterns and is cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Subway train The name subway train comes from the simple picture of a train running in a subway, a way 'under the street'. That's why it means a 'train' that runs below city streets to carry people.