Railway

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Railroad \Rail"road`\ (r[=a]l"r[=o]d`), Railway \Rail"way`\
     (r[=a]l"w[=a]`), n.
     1. A road or way consisting of one or more parallel series of
        iron or steel rails, patterned and adjusted to be tracks
        for the wheels of vehicles, and suitably supported on a
        bed or substructure.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The modern railroad is a development and adaptation of
           the older tramway.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The road, track, etc., with all the lands, buildings,
        rolling stock, franchises, etc., pertaining to them and
        constituting one property; as, a certain railroad has been
        put into the hands of a receiver.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Railway is the commoner word in England; railroad the
           commoner word in the United States.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In the following and similar phrases railroad and
           railway are used interchangeably: 
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Atmospheric railway}, {Elevated railway}, etc. See under
        {Atmospheric}, {Elevated}, etc.
  
     {Cable railway}. See {Cable road}, under {Cable}.
  
     {Ferry railway}, a submerged track on which an elevated
        platform runs, for carrying a train of cars across a water
        course.
  
     {Gravity railway}, a railway, in a hilly country, on which
        the cars run by gravity down gentle slopes for long
        distances after having been hauled up steep inclines to an
        elevated point by stationary engines.
  
     {Railway brake}, a brake used in stopping railway cars or
        locomotives.
  
     {Railway car}, a large, heavy vehicle with flanged wheels
        fitted for running on a railway. [U.S.]
  
     {Railway carriage}, a railway passenger car. [Eng.]
  
     {Railway scale}, a platform scale bearing a track which forms
        part of the line of a railway, for weighing loaded cars.
        
  
     {Railway slide}. See {Transfer table}, under {Transfer}.
  
     {Railway spine} (Med.), an abnormal condition due to severe
        concussion of the spinal cord, such as occurs in railroad
        accidents. It is characterized by ataxia and other
        disturbances of muscular function, sensory disorders, pain
        in the back, impairment of general health, and cerebral
        disturbance, -- the symptoms often not developing till
        some months after the injury.
  
     {Underground railroad} {Underground railway}.
        (a) A railroad or railway running through a tunnel, as
            beneath the streets of a city.
        (b) Formerly, a system of cooperation among certain active
            antislavery people in the United States prior to 1866,
            by which fugitive slaves were secretly helped to reach
            Canada.
  
     Note: [In the latter sense railroad, and not railway, was
           usually used.] "Their house was a principal entrep[^o]t
           of the underground railroad." --W. D. Howells.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  railway
       n 1: line that is the commercial organization responsible for
            operating a railway system [syn: {railroad}, {railroad
            line}, {railway line}, {railway system}]
       2: a line of track providing a runway for wheels; "he walked
          along the railroad track" [syn: {railroad track}, {railroad}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  45 Moby Thesaurus words for "railway":
     L, branch, cable railway, cog railway, el, electric railway,
     elevated, elevated railway, embankment, feeder, feeder line,
     gravity-operated railway, horse railway, junction, light railroad,
     line, main line, metro, monorail, rack railway,
     rack-and-pinion railway, rail, rail line, railroad, roadbed,
     roadway, sidetrack, siding, street railway, streetcar line, subway,
     switchback, terminal, terminus, track, train, tram, tramline,
     trestle, trolley line, trunk, trunk line, tube, turnout,
     underground
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  RAILWAY. A road made with iron rails or other suitable materials. 
       2. Railways are to be constructed and used as directed by the 
  legislative acts creating them. 
       3. In general, a railroad company may take lands for the purpose of 
  making a road when authorized by the charter, by paying a just value for the 
  same. 8 S. & M. 649. 
       4. For most purposes a railroad is a public highway, but it may be the 
  subject of private property, and it has been held that it may be sold as 
  such, unless the sale be forbidden by the legislature; not the franchise, 
  but the land constituting the road. 5 Iredell, 297. In. general, however, 
  the public can only have a right of way for it is not essential that the 
  public should enjoy the land itself, namely, its treasures, minerals, and 
  the like, as these would add nothing to the convenience of the public. 
       5. Railroad companies, like all other principals, are liable for the 
  acts of their agents, while in their employ, but they can not be made 
  responsible for accidents which could not be avoided. 2 Iredell, 234; 2 
  McMullan, 403.