railroad tie
2
4.1
- noun
- /ˈreɪlˌrɔrd taɪ/
- Specialized
:
travesaño
- The workers carefully laid down new railroad ties to ensure the tracks were stable.
- treat railroad ties
Examples
-
The engineers reinforced the dugout with steel beams and railroad ties to shelter troops from incoming German shells.
Academic text (2009) -
We want native stone to build with, railroad ties, and things that fit in.
Fiction book (2002) -
Quick, George, grab that railroad tie.
-
I spent a summer hammering railroad ties.
-
The three levels were separated by stacked railroad ties.
Fiction book (1993) -
Concrete, steel, and plastics have replaced much of the wood once used in railroad ties, house walls, and flooring.
Academic text (2000) -
John Henry pounded spikes and laid railroad ties no faster than my father designed and paved a lane of interstate.
Fiction book (1998) -
More trees were cut for railroad ties and locomotive fuel by Irish workers who were housed in shanties around the pond.
Academic text (1997) -
A raised garden area of railroad ties sits under the windows of 338, the dirt desert dry, even the weeds struggling to survive.
Fiction book (1997) -
On their right, the low banks of the stream had been shored up here and there with railroad ties and large flat stones to prevent the stream's natural tendency to spread out through the woods and convert them to marshland.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
12
7.9
A strong beam placed across a building to stop parts moving apart
1
6.3
A heavy beam placed under railway rails to hold them in place
A heavy wooden or concrete beam that lies across railroad tracks to hold the rails in place
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'railroad' (railway) with 'tie' (a horizontal timber or beam), so the compound denotes a beam used on railway tracks to support rails. This straightforward noun-noun composition follows common compositional patterns and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The compound noun railroad tie comes from the simple picture of a heavy beam placed across the rails on a railroad. The word tie is used because this beam 'ties' or 'holds the rails in place', so the name means 'a beam that supports the rails'.