crosstie

7.5

A heavy wooden or concrete beam that lies across railroad tracks to hold the rails in place

noun
/ˈkrɔsˌtaɪ/

Specialized

: traviesa

Mr. Roy Melvin placed the spike on the crosstie, p31

Examples

There they unloaded another crosstie under the rail.

Fiction book (1993)
After nearly a minute, he withdrew his hand and stood on a crosstie facing Merle.

Fiction book (1999)
The workers installed a new crosstie to ensure the rails were properly supported.
During the maintenance check, the crew replaced several old crossties along the tracks.
Each crosstie plays a vital role in keeping the train rails stable and secure.

Synonyms

tie

vscrosstie

Specialized

12 7.9

A strong beam placed across a building to stop parts moving apart

is the specific rail support rather than a general horizontal beam

railroad tie

vscrosstie

Specialized

2 4.1

A heavy wooden or concrete beam laid across railway tracks to hold rails in place

has identical meaning but uses a different name

sleeper

vscrosstie

1 6.3

A heavy beam placed under railway rails to hold them in place

has identical meaning but is the American term instead

Surface Forms

crosstie singular

crossties plural

Morphology

crosstie = tie (transparent) = cross + tie

A direct compound of 'cross' (across) + 'tie' (a fastening/support beam), meaning a tie placed across the rails; the sense follows straightforward compositional logic. [Postprocessing: moved 'cross' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

The word crosstie comes from the parts cross ('across') and tie ('to fasten'). It is a beam that lies 'across' the rails and 'ties' them together, so it supports and keeps the rails the right distance apart.