Train mile

Train Train, n. [F. train, OF. tra["i]n, trahin; cf. (for some of the senses) F. traine. See {Train}, v.] 1. That which draws along; especially, persuasion, artifice, or enticement; allurement. [Obs.] ``Now to my charms, and to my wily trains.'' --Milton. [1913 Webster]

2. Hence, something tied to a lure to entice a hawk; also, a trap for an animal; a snare. --Halliwell. [1913 Webster]

With cunning trains him to entrap un wares. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

3. That which is drawn along in the rear of, or after, something; that which is in the hinder part or rear. Specifically : [1913 Webster] (a) That part of a gown which trails behind the wearer. [1913 Webster] (b) (Mil.) The after part of a gun carriage; the trail. [1913 Webster] (c) The tail of a bird. ``The train steers their flights, and turns their bodies, like the rudder of ship.'' --Ray. [1913 Webster]

4. A number of followers; a body of attendants; a retinue; a suite. [1913 Webster]

The king's daughter with a lovely train. --Addison. [1913 Webster]

My train are men of choice and rarest parts. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5. A consecution or succession of connected things; a series. ``A train of happy sentiments.'' --I. Watts. [1913 Webster]

The train of ills our love would draw behind it. --Addison. [1913 Webster]

Rivers now Stream and perpetual draw their humid train. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Other truths require a train of ideas placed in order. --Locke. [1913 Webster]

6. Regular method; process; course; order; as, things now in a train for settlement. [1913 Webster]

If things were once in this train, . . . our duty would take root in our nature. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

7. The number of beats of a watch in any certain time. [1913 Webster]

8. A line of gunpowder laid to lead fire to a charge, mine, or the like. [1913 Webster]

9. A connected line of cars or carriages on a railroad; -- called also {railroad train}. [1913 Webster]

10. A heavy, long sleigh used in Canada for the transportation of merchandise, wood, and the like. [1913 Webster]

11. (Rolling Mill) A roll train; as, a 12-inch train. [1913 Webster]

12. (Mil.) The aggregation of men, animals, and vehicles which accompany an army or one of its subdivisions, and transport its baggage, ammunition, supplies, and reserve materials of all kinds. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

{Roll train}, or {Train of rolls} (Rolling Mill), a set of plain or grooved rolls for rolling metal into various forms by a series of consecutive operations.

{Train mile} (Railroads), a unit employed in estimating running expenses, etc., being one of the total number of miles run by all the trains of a road, or system of roads, as within a given time, or for a given expenditure; -- called also {mile run}.

{Train of artillery}, any number of cannon, mortars, etc., with the attendants and carriages which follow them into the field. --Campbell (Dict. Mil. Sci.).

{Train of mechanism}, a series of moving pieces, as wheels and pinions, each of which is follower to that which drives it, and driver to that which follows it.

{Train road}, a slight railway for small cars, -- used for construction, or in mining.

{Train tackle} (Naut.), a tackle for running guns in and out. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Cars.

Usage: {Train}, {Cars}. At one time ``train'' meaning railroad train was also referred to in the U. S. by the phrase ``the cars''. In the 1913 dictionary the usage was described thus: ``Train is the word universally used in England with reference to railroad traveling; as, I came in the morning train. In the United States, the phrase the cars has been extensively introduced in the room of train; as, the cars are late; I came in the cars. The English expression is obviously more appropriate, and is prevailing more and more among Americans, to the exclusion of the cars.'' [1913 Webster +PJC]