switch engine
- noun
- /ˈswɪtʃ ˈɛnʤɪn/
- Specialized
:
locomotora de maniobra
- It was hardly a news flash when the Nashville editor reported in 1935 that at Nashville they will have a switch engine day and night, telegraph operators, and every other necessary facility for the annual tobacco rush.
Examples
-
From the west came the sound of a switch engine shunting cars to a siding, a train being assembled for the long night haul to the border.
Fiction book (1999) -
The switch engine moved the train cars into the correct positions at the yard.
-
I still wonder how they got that switch engine back on the track; it was at a 90-degree angle to the track and down the side of an embankment.
Blog text (19) -
As the switch engine maneuvered through the yard, it skillfully arranged the freight cars.
-
The crew relied on the switch engine to transfer cargo cars between different tracks.
Synonyms
89
3.5
A vehicle that pulls train cars on railway tracks
37
4.6
A train engine that pulls rail cars
A small vehicle that moves rail cars around in a rail yard
A machine on train tracks that pulls or pushes trains
A large machine on wheels that pulls a train on tracks
How Powerful
- UK
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositional: 'switch' (referring to track switching) modifies 'engine' (a locomotive), so the phrase denotes an engine used for switching cars in a yard. Although somewhat domain-specific, the meaning follows a standard noun+noun modifier pattern and would be inferable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The noun switch engine comes from the engine's job in a train yard: a small engine that works at a track switch, pushing or pulling cars to put them on the right track. That's why the phrase means 'an engine used for moving train cars inside a yard' rather than one used for long trips on the main line.