trailer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Someone who or something that trails (follows behind); something that is trailing.

   There were vehicles following me, of course, but was any of them trailing me? […] Without any warning, and without signalling with the trafficator, I took a sudden right turn, hoping to shake off my trailer.

2. 2
   noun

   Part of an object which extends some distance beyond the main body of the object.

   the trailer of a plant

3. 3
   noun

   An unpowered wheeled vehicle (not a caravan or camper) that is towed behind another, and used to carry equipment, etc., that cannot be carried in the leading vehicle.

   At the end of the day, we put the snowmobiles back on the trailer.

4. 4
   noun

   A furnished vehicle towed behind another, and used as a dwelling when stationary.

   We drove our trailer to Yellowstone Park.

5. 5
   noun

   A prefabricated home that could be towed to a new destination but is typically permanently left in an area designated for such homes.

   The young couple′s first home was in a trailer.

6. 6
   noun

   A preview of a film, video game or TV show.

   The trailer for that movie makes it seem like it would be fun.

7. 7
   noun

   The final record of a list of data items, often identified by a key field with an otherwise invalid value that sorts last alphabetically (e.g., “ZZZZZ”) or numerically (“99999”); especially common in the context of punched cards, where the final card is called a trailer card.

   The linked list terminates with a trailer record.

8. 8
   noun

   The last part of a packet, often containing a check sequence.

   The encapsulation layer adds an eight-byte header and a two-byte trailer to each packet.

Etymology

From trail + -er. The film sense derives from the fact that previews were formerly shown after the main feature, rather than before as is usual today, that is trailing after the main feature.