handcar

English

Handcar

Etymology

hand +‎ car

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

handcar (plural handcars)

1. A light railroad car propelled by a hand-operated pumping mechanism
   • 2013 March 1, “Sidetracked”, in Phineas and Ferb, season 4, episode 5, spoken by Agent Lyla (Samantha Bee):

     Yours goes up and mine goes down / and then we do it the other way around. / Don't you give me that sigh, cause if we can't see eye-to-eye / then our missions will be always filled with strife, / cause a handcar is a metaphor for life.

   • 2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 306:

     A small handcar rested on the tracks, its iron pump waiting for a human touch to animate it.

Synonyms

• jigger
• Kalamazoo (Australia)
• pump car
• pump trolley

Translations

a light railroad car propelled by a hand-operated pumping mechanism — see draisine

Anagrams

• Chandra