baggage car
5
3.0
- noun
- /ˈbæɡɪdʒ kɑr/
- US
- Passengers can store their luggage safely in the baggage car during the journey.
- passenger coach-baggage car
- coach-baggage car
Examples
-
They traveled hidden in the baggage car of a train since passengers into the city were inspected.
Academic text (1999) -
We counted cars: eleven day coaches, one Pullman ("For the trainmen," I said, though I was only guessing), a diner, and the baggage car.
Fiction book (1994) -
Meet me in the baggage car.
Fiction book (1996) -
Say, there was a lot of stuff in the baggage car that might belong to your Count.
-
Adams Express paid almost four hundred dollars a month to rent space in the line's baggage cars.
Fiction book (2001) -
Must be draughty in the baggage car.
-
What are those conventioneers doing up at the baggage car?
-
The baggage car moved over a level crossing with a lamplit farmhouse nearby.
Fiction book (2001) -
"A hobo jumped off the baggage car and took off across the fields without noticing anything."
Fiction book (2000) -
The special usually consisted of a locomotive, baggage car, and business car, and operated on a highly publicized schedule.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
7
2.5
A vehicle on railway tracks that carries people or goods
5
3.7
A vehicle that runs on railway tracks to carry people or goods
1
2.3
A vehicle that runs on tracks and carries people or goods
1
8.8
A carriage at the end of a train where the guard sits and luggage is kept
1
3.5
A train car that carries passengers' bags
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a railway car used for carrying passengers\' luggage' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'baggage' (passengers' suitcases) with 'car' (rail vehicle); the first noun clearly modifies the second. This noun-noun compounding pattern (X car = a car for X) is common across languages and standard in English, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Baggage car is very literal: it is a car on a train for passengers' baggage, like trunks and suitcases. So, it simply means 'a railway car used for carrying passengers' luggage'.