Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Trolley |
TrolleyNoun1. A wheeled vehicle that runs on rails and is propelled by electricity: "`tram' and `tramcar' are British terms". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "trolley" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1890. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Electrical Engineering | An apparatus for collecting current from a contact wire by means of a wheel or contact slipper(or shoe)mounted on a pole which is movable in any direction. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mechanical Engineering | Wheeled vehicle used for the transportation of loads or materials over short distances. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A. The grooved wheel, fixed in bearings at the end of a trolley pole, pressed upward in rolling contact with the overhead trolley wire to take off the electric current for operating the locomotive or other piece of motorized equipment. A trolley glider is frequently used in place of the wheel, making a sliding contact with the wire. Also called trolley wheel b. A low carriage, mounted on wheels, for carrying timber, supplies, andmachines underground. See also:trawley; bogie. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A historic tram from 1907
still running in Oberbozen, South Tyrol, Italy
Larger version
"Light rail" refers to a particular class of railway. In the context of light rail, regular railways are called heavy rail.
Light rail systems can handle steeper gradients than heavy rail, and curves sharp enough to fit within street intersections. They are typically built in urban areas, providing a frequent service of small, light trains or single cars, often called streetcars, trolley cars, or trams. Light rail lines were also built over longer distances (typically with a single track) before good roads were common; these were generally called interurbans in North America, or radial railways in Ontario.
There are two general types of light-rail system. Firstly there is the traditional type where the tracks and trains run along the streets, and share space with road traffic. And secondly there is the type where the trains run along their own right-of-way and are separated from road traffic. There are also many light-rail systems which have a combination of the two, with both on road and off road sections.
They are generally powered by electricity, usually by means of overhead wires, but sometimes by a live rail, also called third rail (a high voltage bar alongside the track), requiring safety measures and warnings to the public not to touch it.
Some systems are automatic, dispensing with the need for a driver.
Terminology is not quite fixed: 'light rail' or 'light railway' can be used as a separate category between tram and heavy rail, but a modern tram system may also be called light rail.
Light-rail systems are generally cheaper to build than heavy rail, since the infrastructure does not need to be as substantial. Moreover, the ability to handle sharp curves and steep gradients can reduce the scale of building work required.
From the mid 19th century onwards, horse-drawn trams were used in many cities around the world. In around the 1880s electrically driven street railways became technically feasible. They became popular because roads were then poorly surfaced, and before the invention of the internal combustion engine and the advent of motor-buses, they were the only practical means of public transport around cities.
Light-rail systems are still used in many cities around the world, because they have a higher capacity than, and can carry a larger number of people than any bus based public transport system. They are also cleaner quiter, more comfortable, and in many cases faster than buses.
Many light-rail projects re-use parts of old rail networks, such as abandoned industrial lines.
A good example of both points above is the Docklands Light Railway in London, which uses a sharp, steep, curve to enable it to transfer from running alongside an existing railway line to a disused railway line which crossed underneath the first line. A direct connection between these lines would not be practical for conventional rail.
Around Karlsruhe and Saarbrücken, Germany, light rail vehicles partly use heavy rail tracks, sharing these tracks with heavy rail trains. In the Netherlands this will first be applied on the RijnGouweLijn, to be constructed.
Some of the issues involved are:
"Light-rail" should have a hyphen when used as an attributive adjective.
- compatibility of the safety systems
- power supply of the track in relation to the power used by the vehicles (voltage, and third rail vs. overhead wires)
- width of the vehicles in relation to the position of the platforms
- height of the platforms
See also
- List of light-rail transit systems
- cable car
- People mover
- electric trolleybus
- public transport
- tram
- General Motors Streetcar Conspiracy
External links
- http://www.rinbad.demon.co.uk/ca_rail.htm
- http://www.ntdprogram.com/NTD/NTDData.nsf/2000+TOC/Table20/File/t20_32.html
- Table of Light Rail Transit Agencies in the United States
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Light rail."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A shopping cart (also called a buggy) is a cart supplied by a shop, especially a supermarket, for use by customers inside the shop for transport of merchandise to the check-out, and, after paying, often also to the car on the parking lot. Often customers are supplied the convenience of taking a cart in or near the shop and returning it on the car park, and personnel are charged with moving carts from the latter to the former. Sometimes the customer has to pay a small deposit by inserting a coin, which is returned if and when the customer returns the cart at a designated cart parking point.
Shopping cartsIn the United States, most shopping carts are made of metal or plastic and designed to nest within each other in a line to facilitate moving many at one time, and to save on storage space.
Often there is the problem of theft of shopping carts; for example, shopping carts are often used by urban homeless people to carry their belongings. One of the solutions is a system of sensors around the parking lot which block a wheel. Sometimes shopping carts are physically prevented from even leaving the shop, but that is mainly a solution if few customers come by car.
An alternative for the shopping cart is a shopping basket. A customer can often choose between a cart and a basket, and may prefer a basket if the amount of merchandise is small; small shops may only supply baskets.
See also: moving sidewalk
Using the term metaphorically, an e-shopping cart (electronic shopping cart) is software which allows customers shopping on a website to accept product orders for multiple products from the website. This software automatically calculates and totals orders for customers and indicates the total price including post and packing.
Some setup must be done in the HTML code of the website, and the shopping cart software must be installed on the server which hosts the site or on the secure server which accepts sensitive ordering information.
See also: electronic commerce
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Shopping cart."
Synonyms: TrolleySynonyms: streetcar (n), tram (n), tramcar (n), trolley car (n). (additional references) |
| Synonyms by domain: trucked (transportation). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Vehicle | Train; accommodation train, passenger train, express trail, special train, corridor train, parliamentary train, luggage train, freight train, goods train; st class train, nd class train, rd class train, st class carriage, nd class carriage, rd class carriage, st class compartment, nd class compartment, rd class compartment; rolling stock; horse box, cattle truck; baggage car, express car, freight car, parlor car, dining car, Pullman car, sleeping car, sleeper, dome car; surface car, tram car, trolley car; box car, box wagon; horse car; bullet train, shinkansen, cannonball, the Wabash cannonball, lightning express; luggage van; mail, mail car, mail van. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | They've committed a murder and it's not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops (Double Indemnity; writing credit: James M. Cain; Billy Wilder) A nickel will buy you a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake and a newsreel with enough change left over to ride the trolley from Battery Park to the polo grounds (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) You know what they say about women and trolley cars (Can't Hardly Wait; writing credit: Deborah Kaplan; Harry Elfont) Don't hit the knee that got hit with the trolley! (All in the Family; writing credit: Johnny Speight; Norman Lear) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Trolley Driver (1958) Toonerville Trolley (1936) Trolley Ahoy (1936) Buddy's Trolley Troubles (1934) Trolley Troubles (1931) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Trolley sounding arrangement Off of ISIS. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Trolley and line ready for next sounding Off of ISIS. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | The landed tuna were moved by trolley from the boat to the plant. Credit: Fisheries. |  | Caption: Trolley Car Equipped with Edison Storage Batteries; Unknown Date; {06.114/26} (jpg). |
 | Edison employees learning to use trolley service in an orderly fashion at quitting time;{10.105/3}. |  | The Toonerville Trolley that meets all the trains. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | African American trolley car conductors standing in front of car no. 52, Philadelphia, Pa.] / Peace photo. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The Hamburg Trolley, Hamburg, N.Y. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The Palm Beach trolley. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Up the hill by trolley, Cincinnati, Ohio. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Trolley 2" by K.C. Hohensee Commentary: "The danger and technology of a trolley. PELIGRO!." | "SD Trolley 2" by Erika Thorpe Commentary: "San Diego Trolley line." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Travel | Chad | There is no trolley or subway system. (references) |
Bulgaria | Sofia has a comprehensive bus, tram and trolley system. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Trolley" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.72% of the time. "Trolley" is used about 702 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.72% | 700 | 9,536 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.14% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.14% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 702 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "trolley": dinner trolley ♦ luggage trolley ♦ motorised transfer trolley ♦ off the trolley ♦ shopping trolley ♦ tea trolley ♦ trackless trolley ♦ trolley accumulator ♦ trolley bus ♦ trolley car ♦ trolley coach ♦ trolley line ♦ trolley pole ♦ trolley wire. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "trolley": trolley-bus, trolley-buses, trolley-full, trolley-line, trolley-load, trolley-loads, trolley-shield, trolley-wheel. | |
Ending with "trolley": buffet-trolley, coffee-trolley, dressing-trolley, luggage-trolley, refreshment-trolley, shopping-trolley, tea-trolley, theatre-trolley, two-trolley. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "trolley"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tryezë me rrota (waggon, wagon), vagonetë (handcar, tram, Velocipede), karrocë dore (Barrow, cart, hand-barrow, handcart, wheelbarrow), karro (car, waggon, wagon, wain), barelë (litter, stretcher). (various references) | |
Arabic | ترام (street car, tram, tramway), عربة نقل (pantechnicon, truck), عربة تستعمل في المناجم, عربة المنجم, عربة الترولي شاحنة كبيرة, عربة الأطفال, عرب صغيرة, الحامل المتحرك, ركب الأوتبيس الكهربائي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | тролейбус (trolley bus), тролей, трамвай (streetcar, tram, tramcar, trolley car), контактно колело (trolley-wheel), вагонетка (corf, lorry, lurry, tram, tram-road, truck, waggon, wagon), дрезина. (various references) | |
Chinese | 手推車 , 台车 (Trolly). (various references) | |
Czech | trolejbus (trolley bus, trolley car), vozík v samoobsluze, servírovací stolek (dumbwaiter). (various references) | |
Danish | truck (platform truck, truck), trolley-vogn (truck), trolley, transportvogn, vogn (carriage, coach, railway carriage, waggon), stangstrømsaftager, serveringsvogn (serving trolley), madvogn, loebevogn (crab, travelling winch), loebekat (crane trolley, traveller, travelling carriage, travelling crab, travelling platform runners, traverser carriage), lille vogn til skinner (platelayer's truck, push-car, truck), kørevogn (truck), diplory (platelayer's truck, push-car, truck). (various references) | |
Dutch | trolley, beugel (ring). (various references) | |
Esperanto | troleo. (various references) | |
Farsi | چرخ دستی مامورتنظیف(trolly), گاری بارکش , واگن برقی (Tram), اتومبیل بارکش کوتاه , باواگن برقی حمل کردن . (various references) | |
Finnish | trukki (truck), tankovirroitin, vaunu (car, carriage, coach, goods waggon, railway carriage, truck, waggon), rullakko (truck), kuljetusvaunu. (various references) | |
French | trolley, chariot (hand truck, traveller, truck), caddie. (various references) | |
German | Wagen (baby carriage, bus, car, caravan, carriage, cars, cart, coach, dare, dared, durst, hazard, machine, pram, railway carriage, risk, to risk, to take a chance, trollies, trolly, Van, vehicle, vehicular, venture, waggon, wagon, wain), Transportkarren, Karren (Barrow, barrows, cart, chariot, drive, trolleys, wheelbarrow). (various references) | |
Greek | καροτσάκι (cart, pram, push cart, trundle). (various references) | |
Hebrew | קרונית (dray, Van, waggonette), עגלה (carriage, cart, coach, tumbril, waggon, wagon), חשמלית (car, street car, tram, tramcar). (various references) | |
Hungarian | targonca (booby-hutch, cart, dolly, dray, push cart, truck). (various references) | |
Indonesian | trem listrik. (various references) | |
Italian | carrello (bogie, caddie, carriage, Dolly, runner, truck, under carriage, undercarriage). (various references) | |
Korean | 트롤리 (Trolly). (various references) | |
Manx | ullag electraghys, trollee (trolley pole), barrey scudlee (luggage barrow). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | olleytray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | carrinho (bobbin, carriage, coil, dray, spool, stand, typewriter carriage). (various references) | |
Romanian | troleu (runner), tramvai (tram, tram car, tramway, two-decker), vagonetaj (truck), vagonet (box, carriage, lorry, tram, truck, tub), roabã (Barrow, bondwoman, slave, wheelbarrow), drezinã, cãrucior (bogie, go cart, hand-cart, perambulator, push cart, truck). (various references) | |
Russian | троллейбус (trolley bus, trolley-bus), трамвай (streetcar, tram, tramcar, tramway, trolley car, trolley-car), токосниматель (plough, plow), тележка (carriage, dolly, pushcart, tripper, truck, waggon, wagon), контактный ролик, вагонетка (car, lorry, lurry, tram, truck, waggon, wagon). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | trolejbus (trolley bus), trola (trolley pole), kolica na dva točka, dresina (handcar). (various references) | |
Shona | ngorovhani. (various references) | |
Spanish | trole (collector), carretilla (Barrow, cart, go-cart, handcart, pallet truck, pushcart, truck, wheelbarrow). (various references) | |
Swazi | in-golóvane. (various references) | |
Swedish | truck (truck), tralla (troll, warble), dragkärra (handcart). (various references) | |
Turkish | tramvaya elektrik veren kol (trolley pole), tramvay vagonu (tramcar), yük arabası (dray, dray chart, waggon, wagon, wain), servis masası (dumb waiter), el arabası (Barrow, drag, handcart, pushcart, truck, wheelbarrow). (various references) | |
Turkmen | trolleяbus (r). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | візок (buck, car, carriage, cart, truck), вагонетка (buggy, car, carriage, waggon, wagon). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | cần xe ô tô điện (trolley-pole), ô tô điện (trolley-bus). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "trolley": trolleybus, trolleybuses, trolleybusses, trolleyed, trolleying, trolleys. (additional references) | |
| |
"Trolley" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Rollei, Rolley, strolley, tolly, tolmeia, Tolsey, Tolzey, Torporley, Trallwyn, Trapley, trole, Trollac, trolldy, trollen, trolly, truley, Truller, trullo, trully, Tyrley. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "trolley" (pronounced trÄ"lē) |
| 4 | -r Ä" l ē | Brolly. |
| 3 | -Ä" l ē | bialy, collie, Colly, jolly, Dolly, Folly, golly, holly, lolly, Mollie, Molly, poly, volley. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-l-l-o-r-t-y" | |
-1 letter: toller, trolly. | |
-2 letters: telly, tolyl, toyer, troll. | |
-3 letters: lore, lory, lyre, orle, oyer, rely, role, roll, rote, rotl, ryot, tell, tole, toll, tore, tory, trey, troy, tyer, tyre, tyro, yell, yore. | |
-4 letters: ell, let, ley, lot, lye, ole, ore, ort, ret, roe, rot, rye, tel, toe, tor, toy, try, tye, yet. | |
-5 letters: el, er, et. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-l-l-o-r-t-y" | |
+1 letter: trolleys. | |
+2 letters: allometry, allostery, pellitory, tolerably, trolleyed. | |
+3 letters: erotically, heliolatry, orientally, redolently, resolutely, temporally, tolerantly, trolleybus, trolleying, ulteriorly. | |
+4 letters: acropetally, corpulently, desultorily, editorially, effortfully, elaborately, electorally, electrology, electrolyte, electrolyze, forgetfully, intolerably, revoltingly, storyteller, tremulously, vectorially, worthlessly. | |
+5 letters: adulterously, collaterally, collinearity, counterrally, effortlessly, electrolyses, electrolysis, electrolytes, electrolytic, electrolyzed, electrolyzes, entropically, esoterically, exoterically, exothermally, extemporally, geothermally, heterophylly, intolerantly, irresolutely, isothermally, meteorically, neurotically, octahedrally, operatically, orchestrally, ornamentally, otherworldly, peritoneally, profligately, pyrophyllite, relationally, rhetorically, sacerdotally, snollygoster, storytellers, storytelling, tetragonally, tolerability, torrentially, trolleybuses, yellowthroat. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
