railroad

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a line of track providing a runway for wheels

   We walked along the railroad track by stepping from cross beam to cross beam.

2. 2
   verb

   supply with railroad lines

   railroad the West

3. 3
   noun

   A permanent track consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on.

   Many railroads roughly follow the trace of older land or water roads.

4. 4
   noun

   A single, privately or publicly owned property comprising one or more such tracks and usually associated assets

   Railroads can only compete fully if their tracks are technically compatible with and linked to each other.

5. 5
   noun

   A procedure conducted in haste without due consideration.

   The lawyers made the procedure a railroad to get the signatures they needed.

6. 6
   verb

   To operate a railroad.

   The Thatcherite experiment proved the private sector can railroad as inefficiently as a state monopoly.

7. 7
   verb

   To manipulate and hasten a procedure, as of formal approval of a law or resolution.

   The majority railroaded the bill through parliament, without the customary expert studies which would delay it till after the elections.

8. 8
   verb

   To convict of a crime by circumventing due process.

   They could only convict him by railroading him on suspect drug-possession charges.

Etymology

From rail + road.