trailer truck
- noun
- /ˈtreɪlər trʌk/
- US
- A trailer truck transporting furniture parked outside the apartment complex.
- tractor-trailer truck
- semi-trailer truck
- a big trailer truck
Two big vans sitting on tractor trailer trucks.
- Two big vans sitting on tractor trailer trucks.
Examples
-
A forty-foot flatbed trailer truck loaded with cement conduit backs across the street and stops, blocking the path of the convoy.
Fiction book (2002) -
My life just got run over by a tractor-trailer truck.
Fiction book (2000) -
Out of nowhere, a tractor trailer truck hit the car in his lane, then came over to my lane and hit me head on.
-
The trailer truck is stopped at a light in a deserted area near JFK Airport.
Fiction book (1990) -
The road to Iraq is lined for miles with tractor-trailer trucks hauling supplies from Turkey.
Academic text (2008) -
They were shipped by trailer trucks to wholesalers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Hampton, Va.
Academic text (1990) -
Then the 225,000-pound cylindrical heat exchanger was transported overland to Waterbury at 6 mph on a 96-wheel tractor-trailer truck.
Academic text (2009) -
Phil Foster had been thinking about establishing an on-farm composting operation for a few years, but it was the yard trimmings coming down the freeway in trailer trucks that catalyzed his plans.
Academic text (1995) -
CABSTAND PACKING LOT - DAY CLOSE UP - ROWS OF CIGARETTE CARTONS piled inside a large trailer truck.
Fiction book (1990) -
The trailer truck delivered the construction materials safely to the site.
Synonyms
Large heavy vehicle that carries goods or equipment on roads
A large vehicle, especially a truck, used for carrying goods
A very large truck or its trailer used to carry goods
A large truck that pulls a long trailer to carry goods on roads
A large vehicle like a truck that carries heavy loads
A large truck with a tractor and trailer that carries goods long distances
A large truck with a front cab and a long trailer joined by a moving joint to carry goods
A large vehicle that carries goods
How Big
- US
- US
- US
- US
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: combining 'trailer' (an unpowered load-carrying unit) with 'truck' (a large road vehicle) yields a truck that hauls one or more trailers. This is a straightforward, concrete compound found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun trailer truck comes from how the vehicle works: a powerful front truck pulls a long load called a trailer. The trailer literally 'trails' or follows behind the truck, so the name means a large truck that pulls one or more long trailers.