trolley en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Early 19th century (1823) meaning "cart", of dialectal origin (Suffolk), probably from troll (“to trundle, roll”) + -ey (diminutive ending).
Meanings
- A trolley pole; a single-pole device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line, normally for a tram/streetcar or a trolleybus.
-
(US) A streetcar or light train.
Gremlinesque behaviour might not be very obvious to an America, who would accept as perfectly natural the quaintly pixilated sayings and doings that are happening in subways, in trolleys, on buses, in bars at all times of the day and night.
1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 107:
- (US, colloquial) A light rail, tramway, trolleybus or streetcar system.
- A truck from which the load is suspended in some kinds of cranes.
- A truck which travels along the fixed conductors in an electric railway, and forms a means of connection between them and a railway car.
-
(Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK) A cart or shopping cart; a shopping trolley.
About a shopping trolley, I thought I'd let ye know. Ya'd try to push it straight but it never seems ta go. Ya'd wobble through the car park, hopping off the cars. Anyone would think ya had a few auld jars.
2013 March 15, “The Shopping Trolley” (track 10), in Horsing Around, performed by Richie Kavanagh:
-
(abbreviation, alt-of, clipping) Clipping of flatbed trolley.
alt of flatbed trolley
- (UK) A hand truck.
- (UK) A soapbox car.
- (UK) A gurney, a stretcher with wheeled legs.
- (Philippines) A handcar.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| trolly | alternative | lexicographic | |
| trolleys | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| trollies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
hydrolley · trolley dash · trolleyless · drinks trolley · luggage trolley · trolleybus · trolley jack · trolley trasher · shopping trolley · trolleyology · catering trolley · off one's trolley · trolleyer · hand trolley · trolley lace · trolleyman · trolley bus · tea trolley · hostess trolley · crash trolley · trolleyological · trolley cloth · banquet trolley · pump trolley · trolley park · trolley problem · pump-trolley · trolley dolly · trolleyful · trolley bag · trolleylike
Descendants
trole · Trolley · trolley · trolley · troli · tròlei · trolley · trole
Hyponyms
interurban (streetcar)
Synonyms
crane trolley · traveling trolley · trolley car · tram
Translations (9)
fi tankovirroitin (device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line) · fi vaunu (crane trolley) · pl wózek suwnicowy (crane trolley) · de Laufkatze (crane trolley) · cs trolej (device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line) · fr perche (device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line) · de Krankatze (crane trolley) · fr trolley (device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line) · pl trolejbus (device for collecting electrical current from an overhead electrical line)