Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
An accidental head-on collision or near head-on collision of two trains.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, euphemistic
Topics: rail-transport, railways, transport
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Either from the fact that early train collisions often occurred out in the country alongside a cornfield rather than in a station or siding; or from staged events where two old steam locomotives were purposely run head on at each other, often in an open field, for public entertainment. In the latter idea, the term may jocularly echo field meet as a spectacle in the field involving opposing contestants.
