# train

Pronunciation: say "TRAYN" /tɹeɪn/

## Noun

1. A line of connected railway cars that carries passengers or goods, pulled by a locomotive or driven by its own motors; also the service running at a set time (the 7:42 train).
   - Simple: A line of linked carriages that runs along a railway, carrying people or goods.
   - _The train pulled into the station ten minutes late._
   - _Freight trains haul coal across the entire country._
6. A connected series of thoughts, events, or circumstances, including a set of consequences that follow from something.
   - Simple: A series of connected thoughts or events, including things that happen because of something else.
   - _The interruption broke her train of thought completely._
   - _He followed a careful train of reasoning to the obvious conclusion._
7. The elongated back section of a dress or skirt that drags along the ground behind the wearer.
   - Simple: The long back part of a dress that trails along the floor behind the wearer.
   - _Her wedding gown had a train so long that two attendants carried it._
   - _The dress featured an embroidered train that swept across the floor._
8. A line of people, animals, or vehicles moving along one after another, such as a procession or the attendants following an important person.
   - Simple: A line of people, animals, or vehicles moving one after another, or the people who follow an important person.
   - _A train of mourners followed the carriage through the streets._
   - _The merchant's train of pack mules wound through the mountain pass._
11. A set of connected mechanical parts that operate one another in sequence.
   - Simple: A group of moving parts, like gears, that work each other one after another.
   - _The clock's gear train transferred energy from the spring to the hands._
   - _Engineers redesigned the valve train to reduce friction at high speeds._
12. The troops and vehicles that travel behind an army, hauling the artillery and other gear needed in battle or in a siege.
   - Simple: The group of people and wagons that follow an army carrying weapons and supplies.
   - _The army's baggage train fell behind in the mud._
   - _The siege train rolled toward the city walls with its heavy cannon._
13. A glowing trail left in the sky after a meteor passes, or the tail of dust and gas that streams from a comet as it nears the sun.
   - Simple: A trail of light left by a meteor, or the long tail of a comet.
14. A series of electrical pulses occurring one after another in sequence.
   - Simple: A series of electric pulses that follow one after another.
   - _The sensor sends out a train of pulses every second._
   - _A steady pulse train drives the stepper motor._
15. A sexual act in which a series of men line up to penetrate one person, especially as a form of gang rape. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A sex act in which several men take turns having sex with one person, often as a gang rape.
   - _Prosecutors argued that the defendants lured her to the apartment intending to run a train on her._
   - _Several of the men later admitted they had run a train on her, and all of them were charged with rape._
16. A fixed schedule on which successive software releases are shipped.
   - Simple: A planned timetable for sending out new versions of software.
   - _The new feature missed this month's release train._
   - _Our team ships updates on a six-week train._
17. A bird's long trailing tail or display feathers, such as the peacock's, whose train grows from the feathers above its true tail.
   - Simple: A bird's long tail or long showy feathers, like a peacock's.
   - _The peacock fanned out its shimmering train during the display._
   - _A pheasant's train can grow remarkably long in mature males._
19. A trail or line of something laid along the ground, especially a line of gunpowder.
   - Simple: A thin line of something laid out along a surface, especially gunpowder.
   - _The saboteur laid a train of powder from the door to the magazine._
   - _A spark caught the train and the whole line flared up at once._
20. A group or class of people regarded together as one body. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A group of people seen as belonging together, such as a crowd of followers.
21. The elongated, winding form of something narrow, such as the course of a river or the body of a snake. *(literary)*
   - Simple: The long, winding shape of something narrow, like a river or a snake's body.
   - _The river's silver train wound through the valley below._
   - _The snake uncoiled its long train across the warm rock._
23. A long, heavy sleigh used in Canada for hauling merchandise, wood, and similar loads.
   - Simple: A long, heavy sleigh used in Canada to carry goods, wood, and other loads.

## Verb

2. To teach a person or animal a skill or way of behaving through repeated practice and instruction.
   - Simple: To teach a person or animal a skill by practicing it many times.
   - _The academy trains pilots for both military and civilian roles._
   - _Master craftsmen train apprentices over many years._
3. To prepare yourself by regular practice or exercise, to build or keep up a skill or physical fitness.
   - Simple: To practice or exercise often to get better at something or to get fit.
   - _Concert pianists train daily to keep their technique sharp._
   - _He trained for months to perfect his free throws._
4. To feed data into an algorithm, usually a neural network, so it builds a model that can perform a task.
   - Simple: To teach a computer program to do a task by giving it lots of example data.
   - _Researchers train neural networks on enormous text datasets._
   - _The team trained the system to translate between five languages._
5. To keep something such as a camera, a light, a weapon, or one's gaze pointed steadily at a particular target.
   - Simple: To point something, like your eyes, a camera, a light or a gun, steadily at something.
   - _News crews train their cameras on the courthouse doors whenever a verdict is expected._
   - _Two officers kept their weapons trained on the car until the driver stepped out._
9. To guide a plant's or branch's growth, usually with pruning and bending, so that it develops in a chosen direction or shape.
   - Simple: To make a plant grow a certain way by cutting and bending it.
   - _Gardeners train the vine along the fence each spring._
   - _You can train a young tree to grow flat against a wall._
10. To carry goods or people from one place to another by railway.
   - Simple: To move goods or people from place to place by railroad.
18. To create a cheat patch for a video game, or to apply such cheats to it.
   - Simple: To add cheats to a video game by making a special patch for it.
   - _Cracking groups in the 1980s would often train a game before releasing it, adding cheats such as infinite lives or a level skip._
   - _The copy passed around on bulletin boards had been cracked and trained, with a start menu offering infinite ammo and a level select._
22. To move forward one after another, following along in an ordered sequence.
   - Simple: To follow one after another in order.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any creature's tail.
- (noun) The track or path left by an animal.
- (noun) Bait or a scented object pulled over the ground to leave a path that draws an animal after it.
- (noun) A horse's pace or way of moving.
- (verb) To follow an ore vein or other mineral sign back to its source.
- (verb) To pull something along behind.
- (verb) Of a long garment or similar thing, to sweep behind over the floor.
- (noun) Betrayal or trickery.
- (noun) A clever scheme meant to fool someone.
- (noun) A snare for catching animals, or any kind of trap.
- (noun) Bait or a fake animal used to draw prey in.
- (noun) A disabled or tethered live bird offered to a young hawk as killing practice or as bait.
- (noun) A sign or hint of something.
- (verb) To lure someone by coaxing or trickery.
- (verb) To be close friends or lovers with someone.
- (noun) Oil rendered from whale blubber.

## Origin

Latin trahō ("to pull, to draw"), perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *tregʰ- ("to pull, draw, drag"), lies behind Old French traïner ("to pull out, to draw"), which produced the noun train ("a delay, a drawing out"). English took this into Middle English, where the verb was later formed from the noun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/train (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).