train

noun

1. 1

   Elongated or trailing portion. The elongated back portion of a dress or skirt (or an ornamental piece of material added to similar effect), which drags along the ground.

   Unfortunately, the leading bridesmaid stepped on the bride's train as they were walking down the aisle.

   They called each other by their Christian name, were always arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each other's train for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set [...].

   He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a lady does her train in bad weather.

   Lace sleeves, a demure neckline, a full skirt and a relatively modest train.

2. 2

   Elongated or trailing portion. A trail or line of something, especially gunpowder.

   [E]mancipation is put into such a train that in a few years there will be no slaves Northward of Maryland.

   A party was sent to search, and there they found all the powder ready prepared, and, moreover, a man with a lantern, one Guy Fawkes, who had undertaken to be the one to set fire to the train of gunpowder, hoping to escape before the explosion.

3. 3

   Elongated or trailing portion. The tail of a bird.

   Let frantike Talbot triumph for a while, And like a Peacock ſweepe along his tayle, Wee’le pull his Plumes, and take away his Trayne, If Dolphin and the reſt will be but rul’d.

   The burning evening sun lighted with mellow gold the coats of the fierce little tiger-kittens — orange silk with stripes of black velvet — the broken amethysts and ruined emeralds of the poor bird's train cruelly scattered over the trampled grass

   Fawn and pearl of the lyre-bird's train, / Sheen of the bronze-wing, blue of the crane; / Cream of the plover, grey of the dove; / These are the hues of the land I love!

   Before the Spanish Conquest, the long, slender, green plumes of the male bird's train adorned the headgear of Aztec and Mayan kings and chieftains, as one may clearly see in modern restorations of ancient scenes.

4. 4

   obsoleteElongated or trailing portion. The tail of an animal in general.

5. 5

   Elongated or trailing portion. The elongated body or form of something narrow and winding, such as the course of a river or the body of a snake.

6. 6

   Elongated or trailing portion. A transient trail of glowing ions behind a large meteor as it falls through the atmosphere or accompanying a comet as it nears the sun; tail.

   Finally, all men saw that astronomical knowledge lied not, and they awaited the comet. Its approach was not, at first, seemingly rapid; nor was its appearance of very unusual character. It was of a dull red, and had little perceptible train.

   It sometimes happens that the train is directed towards the sun, or makes a certain angle with the line joining the head and the sun; it was then called by the ancient astronomers the beard of the comet.

   ...the comet expands, its vapours are developed and escape in jets towards the radiant star; then we see them driven back on each side of the head and the caudal train commencing.

7. 7

   archaicElongated or trailing portion. An animal's trail or track.

8. 8

   obsoleteElongated or trailing portion. Something dragged or laid along the ground to form a trail of scent or food along which to lure an animal.

9. 9

   obsoleteElongated or trailing portion. Gait or manner of running of a horse.

10. 10

    Connected sequence of people or things. A group of people following an important figure such as a king or noble; a retinue, a group of retainers.

    Sir, I invite your Highness and your train / To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest /For this one night

    The imperial train arrived on November 22 at Te-chou, a city in western Shantung along the border of Chihli.

    Grace was glad the citizenry did not know Katherine Gordon was in the king’s train, but she was beginning to understand Henry’s motive for including the pretender’s wife.

11. 11

    Connected sequence of people or things. A group of animals, vehicles, or people that follow one another in a line, such as a wagon train; a caravan or procession.

    Our party formed a train at the funeral parlor before departing for the burial.

12. 12

    figurativeConnected sequence of people or things. A group or class of people.

    Theſe are the cruel pirates of Argier, That damned train, the ſcum of Affrica, […]

13. 13

    Connected sequence of people or things. The men and vehicles following an army, which carry artillery and other equipment for battle or siege.

14. 14

    Connected sequence of people or things. A sequence of events or ideas which are interconnected; a course or procedure of something.

    A man may be absorbed in the deepest thought, and his brow will remain smooth until he encounters some obstacle in his train of reasoning, or is interrupted by some disturbance, and then a frown passes like a shadow over his brow.

    Failure to acknowledge an A.T.C. warning or excessive speed starts the same train of events until correction is made.

    "Where was I?" he asked several times during the lunch, losing his train of thought.

15. 15

    Connected sequence of people or things. A set of things, events, or circumstances that follow after or as a consequence; aftermath, wake.

    Thus the development of reason is accompanied by no inner blight or withering. It does not bring in its train loss of faith or weakening of sympathies.

16. 16

    obsoleteConnected sequence of people or things. State of progress, status, situation (in phrases introduced by in a + adjective); also proper order or situation (introduced by in or in a alone).

    in a fair / better / worse train

    As we had been in a good train for several days past, I thought it not prudent to break with him, for little matters.

    I took care that my absence should neither be lamented by the poor nor the rich. I put every thing in a fair train of going on smoothly, and actually set out, with my steward, for my estate in Wales at dawning of the day.

    […] every thing was now in a fairer train for Miss Crawford’s marrying Edmund than it had ever been before.

17. 17

    Connected sequence of people or things. A set of interconnected mechanical parts which operate each other in sequence.

18. 18

    Connected sequence of people or things. A series of electrical pulses.

19. 19

    Connected sequence of people or things. A series of specified vehicles (originally tramcars in a mine as usual, later especially railway carriages) coupled together.

20. 20

    Connected sequence of people or things. A mechanical (originally steam-powered, now typically diesel or electrical) vehicle carrying a large number of passengers and freight along a designated track or path; a line of connected wagons considered overall as a mode of transport; (as uncountable noun) rail or road travel.

    on a train

    The train for Edinburgh will leave in 5 minutes.

    The train arrived at the station.

    We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.[…]As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.

21. 21

    informalConnected sequence of people or things. A service on a railway line.

22. 22

    Connected sequence of people or things. A long, heavy sleigh used in Canada for the transportation of merchandise, wood, etc.

23. 23

    Connected sequence of people or things. A software release schedule.

    What steps do development engineers follow when adding new feature code? How do they support different software versions or release trains?

24. 24

    slangConnected sequence of people or things. An act wherein series of men line up and then penetrate a person, especially as a form of gang rape.

    “You want us to run a train on you?”

25. 25

    Connected sequence of people or things. A specified topic, behavior, interest or inclination.

    She doesn't come around any more, cuz she had a kid. She's on the family train now.

verb

1. 1

   To practice an ability.

   She trained seven hours a day to prepare for the Olympics.

2. 2

   To teach and form (someone) by practice; to educate (someone).

   You can't train a pig to write poetry.

   The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.

3. 3

   To teach and form (someone) by practice; to educate (someone). To feed data into an algorithm, usually based on a neural network, to create a machine learning model that can perform some task.

   At least 10 lawsuits have been filed this year against A.I. companies, accusing them of training their systems on artists’ creative work without consent.

4. 4

   To improve one's fitness.

   I trained with weights all winter.

5. 5

   To proceed in sequence.

6. 6

   To move (a gun) laterally so that it points in a different direction.

   The assassin had trained his gun on the minister.

7. 7

   To encourage (a plant or branch) to grow in a particular direction or shape, usually by pruning and bending.

   The vine had been trained over the pergola.

   He trains the young branches to the right hand or to the left.

8. 8

   To transport (something) by train.

   Colson was to truck the 'plane to Alice Springs, where it would be trained to Adelaide for repairs.

9. 9

   To travel by train.

   As I trained westward across Europe, I read newspaper articles from the Sixties describing placards on the pub’s walls that explained to patrons how to order lager, brandy, and gin in Esperanto.

10. 10

    To trace (a lode or any mineral appearance) to its head.

11. 11

    To create a trainer (cheat patch) for; to apply cheats to (a game).

    I got a twix on the 128 version being fixed and trained by Mad Max at M2K BBS 208-587-7636 in Mountain Home Idaho. He fixes many games and puts them on his board. One of my sources for games and utils.

    In the mid-1980s, demoparties were also copyparties, where the first so called hot releases of cracked and trained games changed hands. However, illegal software copying later disappeared […]

12. 12

    obsoleteTo draw (something) along; to trail, to drag (something).

    [I]t pleaſed the grekes at that tyme to ſe yͤ body of Hector ſo trayned by Achilles⸝ bycauſe he was wont to be ſo redoubtab[l]e to them⸝ […]

    In hollow cube / Training his devilish enginery.

13. 13

    obsoleteTo trail down or along the ground.

noun

1. 1

   obsoleteTreachery; deceit.

   In the meane time, through that false Ladies traine / He was surprisd, and buried under beare, / Ne ever to his worke returnd againe [...].

2. 2

   obsoleteA trick or stratagem.

3. 3

   obsoleteA trap for animals, a snare; (figuratively) a trap in general.

4. 4

   obsoleteA lure; a decoy.

5. 5

   obsoleteA live bird, handicapped or disabled in some way, provided for a young hawk to kill as training or enticement.

6. 6

   obsoleteA clue or trace.

verb

1. 1

   obsoleteTo draw by persuasion, artifice, or the like; to attract by stratagem; to entice; to allure.

   If but a dozen French / Were there in arms, they would be as a call / To train ten thousand English to their side.

   O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note.

   O doe not goe, this feaſt (I'le gage my life) / Is but a plot to trayne you to your ruine, / Be rul'd, you ſha'not goe.

   Thou hast been trained from thy post by some deep guile — some well-devised stratagem – the cry of some distressed maiden has caught thine ear, or the laughful look of some merry one has taken thine eye.

2. 2

   obsoleteTo be on intimate terms with.

noun

1. 1

   obsoletetrain oil, whale oil

Forms

plural

trains

past tense

trained

past participle

trained

present participle

training

third person singular

trains