railroad man
3
4.2
- noun
- /ˈreɪlˌrɔrd mæn/
- US
:
ferroviario
- My father worked long hours as a railroad man to support our family.
Examples
-
I'm a railroad man, not a prophet.
-
You see, my daddy was a railroad man until he got rich.
-
My daddy was the son of a railroad man
-
See, the railroad men come through offering to buy up land.
-
How exciting it was watching the railroad men work.
Fiction book (1993) -
A group of railroad men wait around, wearing forced smiles.
Fiction book (2001) -
My 21 years working as a railroad man taught me that there's not a thing harmful about hard work.
Blog text (9) -
(The other granddaddy and my daddy were railroad men.)
Blog text (26) -
You know there are railroad men, old-timers who still recognize me from those days I kept the payroll straight at Santa Fe?
Fiction book (2001) -
He's a railroad man.
Synonyms
2
8.1
A person who operates signals and switches for trains
1
7.9
A person who operates the brakes on a train
1
4.8
A person who works for a railroad, for example on trains or helping run it
1
6.2
A male worker on a train who helps passengers and the conductor
1
3.4
A person who drives a train and controls its engine
1
8.6
A person who works on a train and helps passengers in sleeping cars
1
7.9
A person who sets which railway track a train uses
1
5.0
A person who signals with a flag to direct traffic or trains
A man who works for a company that runs trains
A man who works for the railway, often on trains or tracks
A person who drives a train or locomotive
A person who maintains and inspects railway tracks for safety
A worker who builds and fixes rails that trains run on
A train worker who operates and looks after the system that stops a train
A railway yard worker who controls and fixes signals and track switches
A person who works in a railway yard arranging trains and freight
A person who works in a railway yard assembling or taking apart trains
A person who directs trains and controls their movement on railway tracks
A person who manages and supervises work in a train yard
A man who handles passengers' bags on a train
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is transparently compositionally derived from 'railroad' (the railway/company) + 'man' (an adult male), yielding a man who works for or is associated with the railroad. This noun+noun compound follows common English formation patterns and is cross-linguistically predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Railroad man comes from a simple picture: railroad (the tracks and trains) plus man (a person who works on them). People used this name for men who built, fixed, or looked after the tracks and trains, so it means 'a man who works for a railroad'.