资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Railroad \Rail"road`\, Railway \Rail"way`\, 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.

   Note: The modern railroad is a development and adaptation of
         the older tramway.

   2. The road, track, etc., with al the lands, buildings,
      rolling stock, franchises, etc., pertaining to them and
      constituting one property; as, certain railroad has been
      put into the hands of a receiver.

   Note: Railway is the commoner word in England; railroad the
         commoner word in the United States.

   Note: In the following and similar phrases railroad and
         railway are used interchangeably:

   {Atmospheric railway}, {Elevated railway}, etc. See under
      {Atmospheric}, {Elevated}, etc.

   {Cable railway}. See {Cable road}, under {Cable}.

   {Perry railway}, a submerged track on which an elevated
      platform runs, fro 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} or {railway}.
      (a) A railroad or railway running through a tunnel, as
          beneath the streets of a city.
      (b) Formerly, a system of co["o]peration among certain
          active antislavery people in the United States, by
          which fugitive slaves were secretly helped to reach
          Canada.

   Note: [In the latter sense railroad, and not railway, was
         used.] ``Their house was a principal entrep[^o]t of the
         underground railroad.'' --W. D. Howells.

Underground \Un"der*ground`\, a.
   1. Being below the surface of the ground; as, an underground
      story or apartment.

   2. Done or occurring out of sight; secret. [Colloq.]

   {Underground railroad} or {railway}. See under {Railroad}.

资料来源 : WordNet®

Underground Railroad
     n : abolitionists secret aid to escaping slaves; pre-Civil War
         in US [syn: {Underground Railway}]