train

Elongated or trailing portion.; The elongated back portion of a dress or skirt (or an ornamental piece of material added to similar effect), which drags along the ground.

• Unfortunately, the leading bridesmaid stepped on the bride's train as they were walking down the aisle.

Elongated or trailing portion.; A trail or line of something, especially gunpowder.

• [E]mancipation is put into such a train that in a few years there will be no slaves Northward of Maryland.

Elongated or trailing portion.; The tail of a bird.

• Let frantike Talbot triumph for a while, And like a Peacock ſweepe along his tayle, Wee’le pull his Plumes, and take away his Trayne, If Dolphin and the reſt will be but rul’d.
• Fawn and pearl of the lyre-bird's train, / Sheen of the bronze-wing, blue of the crane; / Cream of the plover, grey of the dove; / These are the hues of the land I love!

Elongated or trailing portion.; The tail of an animal in general.obsolete

Elongated or trailing portion.; The elongated body or form of something narrow and winding, such as the course of a river or the body of a snake.poetic

Elongated or trailing portion.; A transient trail of glowing ions behind a large meteor as it falls through the atmosphere or accompanying a comet as it nears the sun; tail.

• It sometimes happens that the train is directed towards the sun, or makes a certain angle with the line joining the head and the sun; it was then called by the ancient astronomers the beard of the comet.
• ...the comet expands, its vapours are developed and escape in jets towards the radiant star; then we see them driven back on each side of the head and the caudal train commencing.

Elongated or trailing portion.; An animal's trail or track.archaic

Elongated or trailing portion.; Something dragged or laid along the ground to form a trail of scent or food along which to lure an animal.obsolete

Elongated or trailing portion.; Gait or manner of running of a horse.obsolete

Connected sequence of people or things.; A group of people following an important figure such as a king or noble; a retinue, a group of retainers.

• Sir, I invite your Highness and your train / To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest /For this one night
• The imperial train arrived on November 22 at Te-chou, a city in western Shantung along the border of Chihli.

To practice an ability.intransitive

• She trained seven hours a day to prepare for the Olympics.

To teach and form (someone) by practice; to educate (someone).transitive

• You can't train a pig to write poetry.

To teach and form (someone) by practice; to educate (someone).; To feed data into an algorithm, usually based on a neural network, to create a machine learning model that can perform some task.transitive

• At least 10 lawsuits have been filed this year against A.I. companies, accusing them of training their systems on artists’ creative work without consent.

To improve one's fitness.intransitive

• I trained with weights all winter.

To proceed in sequence.intransitive

To move (a gun) laterally so that it points in a different direction.transitive

• The assassin had trained his gun on the minister.

To encourage (a plant or branch) to grow in a particular direction or shape, usually by pruning and bending.transitive

• The vine had been trained over the pergola.

To transport (something) by train.transitive

• Colson was to truck the 'plane to Alice Springs, where it would be trained to Adelaide for repairs.

To travel by train.intransitive

• As I trained westward across Europe, I read newspaper articles from the Sixties describing placards on the pub’s walls that explained to patrons how to order lager, brandy, and gin in Esperanto.

To trace (a lode or any mineral appearance) to its head.transitive

Treachery; deceit.obsoleteuncountable

• In the meane time, through that false Ladies traine / He was surprisd, and buried under beare, / Ne ever to his worke returnd againe [...].

A trick or stratagem.countableobsolete

A trap for animals, a snare; (figuratively) a trap in general.countableobsolete

A lure; a decoy.countableobsolete

A live bird, handicapped or disabled in some way, provided for a young hawk to kill as training or enticement.countableobsolete

A clue or trace.countableobsolete

To draw by persuasion, artifice, or the like; to attract by stratagem; to entice; to allure.obsoletetransitive

• If but a dozen French / Were there in arms, they would be as a call / To train ten thousand English to their side.
• O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note.

To be on intimate terms with.colloquialobsolete

train oil, whale oilobsoleteuncountable