tram

UK: /ˈtræm/ US: /træm/ ,(tram)

Inflections of 'tram' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

trams

v 3rd person singular

tramming

v pres p

trammed

v past

trammed

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

tram¹ /træm/   n. [countable]

1. Transport, British Terms [Brit.] a streetcar.
2. Transport, Mining, Transport a truck or car on rails, esp. one that travels on an overhead cable, as to convey skiers at a ski lodge.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

tram¹ (tram),  n., v., trammed, tram•ming. 

n. 

1. [Brit.] a streetcar.
2. a tramway; tramroad.
Also called tram•car (tram′kär′). a truck or car on rails for carrying loads in a mine.
3. the vehicle or cage of an overhead carrier.

v.t., v.i. 

4. to convey or travel by tram.

• Middle Dutch trame beam
• 1490–1500 for an earlier sense; 1820–30 for def. 2.; origin, originally shafts of a barrow or cart, rails for carts (in mines); perh.

tram ′less, adj. 

tram² (tram),  n., v., trammed, tram•ming. 

n. 

1. trammel (def. 3).

v.t. 

2. [Mach.] to adjust (something) correctly.

• short for trammel 1880–85

tram³ (tram), n. 

1. silk that has been slightly or loosely twisted, used weftwise in weaving silk fabrics. Cf. organzine.

• Latin trāma warp
• Old French traime weft, cunning contrivance
• 1300–50 for an earlier sense; 1670–80 for current sense; Middle English tram(m)e machination, contrivance

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

tram / træm/ noun

1. Also called: tramcar an electrically driven public transport vehicle that runs on rails let into the surface of the road, power usually being taken from an overhead wire
   US and Canadian names: streetcar, trolley car
2. a small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine; tub

Etymology: 16th Century (in the sense: shaft of a cart): probably from Low German traam beam; compare Old Norse thrömr, Middle Dutch traem beam, tooth of a rake

ˈtramless adjective