trainer
Pluraltrainers
- 1
- 2A soft-soled shoe made for running or sports, also worn for everyday casual wear.
One trainer was caked in mud after the cross-country run.
She wore her trainers everywhere, from the gym to the high street.
Similarsneaker
Note
The everyday British and Irish name for what American English calls a sneaker. Like most footwear it lives in the plural (a pair of trainers, new trainers, wearing trainers), and the singular is kept for one shoe of the pair, the one that ended up caked in mud. Americans reading it should expect a shoe, not a person.
- 3A person who treats the injuries that players suffer during matches; a sports physiotherapist.
The team trainer diagnosed a torn ligament moments after the tackle.
Club trainers carry kits stocked with tape, ice packs, and splints.
Similarphysio, physiotherapist, medic
Note
In a sports club the trainer can be a different person from the coach. Garth Dykes's Nelson FC in the Football League (2009) credits one man with serving as "player, coach and trainer," three separate jobs. The trainer in this sense is the one who runs on when a player goes down, close kin to a physiotherapist, while the coaching sense covers instruction and preparation.
- 4A device that holds a bicycle in place, letting the rider pedal indoors while staying stationary.
He clamped the rear wheel into the trainer and started his warm-up.
Many cyclists rely on trainers to keep fit through the off-season.
Note
Cyclists use the word for the stand, not the bike. The rider brings their own bicycle and fixes it in place, and that is what separates a trainer from an exercise bike, a machine built only for pedaling indoors. The name follows the ordinary train + -er pattern, since the device is what keeps the rider training through the off-season.
- 5A software patch that modifies a video game to enable cheats, such as infinite health or extra resources.
He ran a trainer to freeze the timer during the boss fight.
Some trainers unlock every weapon from the start.
Note
Gamers' slang that usually takes a for-phrase: you get a trainer for a particular game, as Phil, posting to alt.games.rctycoon in 2000, needed one for RCT. Commodore 64 fans knew trainers as add-ons that came attached, along with intros, to circulating copies of games. In 2001 LJames4728 on alt.c64 went hunting for originals without them. Keep it out of formal writing.
- 6Attributive form of trainers (chiefly British: sneakers).
Trainer socks sit low enough to stay hidden inside your shoes.
The brand opened a trainer shop in central London last spring.
Note
Before another noun, the plural trainers drops its -s: gum sticks to your trainer soles, not your trainers soles, even when both shoes are meant. The result looks exactly like the singular of the shoe, so the following noun is what tells the reader a pair is in view, as in trainer soles or a trainer rack.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from the verb "train" combined with the suffix "-er."