"like a train" meaning in English

See like a train in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-like a train.ogg [Australia]
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase}} like a train
  1. (simile, UK) With unstoppable momentum. Tags: UK
    Sense id: en-like_a_train-en-prep_phrase-zOli7SS5 Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header, English similes

Download JSON data for like a train meaning in English (2.1kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "like a train",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1949, Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell, Karamojo safari, page 85",
          "text": "I could not get a shot in. They turned in my direction and came like a train. I stopped the first and the others spilled round him at a frightful speed. I was in the eddy of the first beast, as it were. I got in another shot at an angle behind the ear and down he went.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Sheila Garrigue, The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito, page 17",
          "text": "\"That tide's coming in like a train, and if the Raider breaks up, the currents will drag them under!\" Her voice was desperate. \"I don't see 'ow anyone can get to them!\" It was true.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Alan Ball, Playing Extra Time, page 221",
          "text": "Aspinall was suspended for the first three games but we started like a train. We took ten points from the first twelve, beating Leeds 4—0 at home with Hilaire and Blake coming back, and we went to the top of the league.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With unstoppable momentum."
      ],
      "id": "en-like_a_train-en-prep_phrase-zOli7SS5",
      "links": [
        [
          "unstoppable",
          "unstoppable"
        ],
        [
          "momentum",
          "momentum"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, UK) With unstoppable momentum."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-like a train.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0e/En-au-like_a_train.ogg/En-au-like_a_train.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/En-au-like_a_train.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like a train"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "like a train",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English similes",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1949, Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell, Karamojo safari, page 85",
          "text": "I could not get a shot in. They turned in my direction and came like a train. I stopped the first and the others spilled round him at a frightful speed. I was in the eddy of the first beast, as it were. I got in another shot at an angle behind the ear and down he went.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Sheila Garrigue, The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito, page 17",
          "text": "\"That tide's coming in like a train, and if the Raider breaks up, the currents will drag them under!\" Her voice was desperate. \"I don't see 'ow anyone can get to them!\" It was true.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Alan Ball, Playing Extra Time, page 221",
          "text": "Aspinall was suspended for the first three games but we started like a train. We took ten points from the first twelve, beating Leeds 4—0 at home with Hilaire and Blake coming back, and we went to the top of the league.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With unstoppable momentum."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unstoppable",
          "unstoppable"
        ],
        [
          "momentum",
          "momentum"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, UK) With unstoppable momentum."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-like a train.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0e/En-au-like_a_train.ogg/En-au-like_a_train.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/En-au-like_a_train.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like a train"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.