"Railroad City" meaning in English

See Railroad City in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Etymology: Named for being the end point of several railroad lines, first used in Indianapolis Locomotive, September 1849. Head templates: {{en-prop|head=Railroad City}} Railroad City
  1. (US, informal, obsolete) Indianapolis. Wikipedia link: Indiana University Press Tags: US, informal, obsolete
{
  "etymology_text": "Named for being the end point of several railroad lines, first used in Indianapolis Locomotive, September 1849.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "Railroad City"
      },
      "expansion": "Railroad City",
      "name": "en-prop"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Indianapolis",
          "orig": "en:Indianapolis",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nicknames for cities",
          "orig": "en:Nicknames for cities",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, William Robeson Holloway, Indianapolis. A Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States: Indianapolis Journal Print:",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              0,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[1887, “History of Story County, Iowa”, in A history of Story County, Iowa. Carefully Compiled, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present. March 1, 1887., Iowa Printing Company, page 375:",
          "text": "Railroad City—Indianapolis, Indiana, is sometimes called by this name as being the end or terminus of many railroads",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              30
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[1920, “Nicknames of U. S. Cities; Races of Mankind.”, in The World Almanac and Encyclopedia, Press Publishing Company, page 402:",
          "text": "Indianapolis—the Railroad City",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              148,
              161
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[2020 August 3, Rudy Schouten, The Historic Memorial District of Downtown Indianapolis, The History Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "The era marked the first in a long line of city initiatives to distinguish itself for its elemental sense of adaptability. Indianapolis became the “Railroad City,” and then, as those tracks began to stretch farther out and crisscross with more density, it became “The Crossroads of America.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              43,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[2021 January 29, Erica L. Bell, “Chapter Three”, in Madam C. J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 49:",
          "text": "A midwestern railway hub that claimed “the Railroad City” as its nickname, Indianapolis served as a gateway to the South, the Midwest, and the Northeast, making it an attractive choice for a manufacturer who hoped to distribute products nationwide.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              91,
              104
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[2024 March 5, Jon C. Teaford, Indianapolis: A Concise History, Indiana University Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Boosters in the second half of the nineteenth century justifiably called Indianapolis “the Railroad City.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Indianapolis."
      ],
      "id": "en-Railroad_City-en-name-DohNNJZ~",
      "links": [
        [
          "Indianapolis",
          "Indianapolis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, informal, obsolete) Indianapolis."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal",
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Indiana University Press"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Railroad City"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Named for being the end point of several railroad lines, first used in Indianapolis Locomotive, September 1849.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "Railroad City"
      },
      "expansion": "Railroad City",
      "name": "en-prop"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proper nouns",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Indianapolis",
        "en:Nicknames for cities"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, William Robeson Holloway, Indianapolis. A Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States: Indianapolis Journal Print:",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              0,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[1887, “History of Story County, Iowa”, in A history of Story County, Iowa. Carefully Compiled, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present. March 1, 1887., Iowa Printing Company, page 375:",
          "text": "Railroad City—Indianapolis, Indiana, is sometimes called by this name as being the end or terminus of many railroads",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              30
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[1920, “Nicknames of U. S. Cities; Races of Mankind.”, in The World Almanac and Encyclopedia, Press Publishing Company, page 402:",
          "text": "Indianapolis—the Railroad City",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              148,
              161
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[2020 August 3, Rudy Schouten, The Historic Memorial District of Downtown Indianapolis, The History Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "The era marked the first in a long line of city initiatives to distinguish itself for its elemental sense of adaptability. Indianapolis became the “Railroad City,” and then, as those tracks began to stretch farther out and crisscross with more density, it became “The Crossroads of America.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              43,
              56
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[2021 January 29, Erica L. Bell, “Chapter Three”, in Madam C. J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 49:",
          "text": "A midwestern railway hub that claimed “the Railroad City” as its nickname, Indianapolis served as a gateway to the South, the Midwest, and the Northeast, making it an attractive choice for a manufacturer who hoped to distribute products nationwide.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              91,
              104
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "[2024 March 5, Jon C. Teaford, Indianapolis: A Concise History, Indiana University Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Boosters in the second half of the nineteenth century justifiably called Indianapolis “the Railroad City.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Indianapolis."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Indianapolis",
          "Indianapolis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, informal, obsolete) Indianapolis."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal",
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Indiana University Press"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Railroad City"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Railroad City meaning in English (3.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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