switchman

noun

switch·​man ˈswich-mən How to pronounce switchman (audio)
: one who attends a switch (as in a railroad yard)

Examples of switchman in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
During a bitter labor strike in 1963, Florida East Coast Railway hired Mr. Calley as a switchman and then promoted him to conductor. Adam Bernstein, Washington Post, 29 July 2024 But emergencies have long been the switchmen of lasting social change. Matthew Desmond, The New York Review of Books, 28 Dec. 2023 Tokyo Station still has a plaque marking the spot where then-Prime Minister Takashi Hara was fatally stabbed on Nov. 4, 1921, by a railway switchman who objected to the government’s policies. WSJ, 8 July 2022 The switchman he was initially accused of killing actually survived, Boyles said. Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2020 Five years later, John Brown was accused of severely injuring a switchman on an Illinois Central Railroad train. Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2020 Weeks, a clerk at phone company Southern Bell, applied for an open job as a switchman. Bryce Covert, Cosmopolitan, 9 Aug. 2017 Coach Williams’s longtime man Friday, Wayne Walden, a former academic counselor, played switchman, steering basketball players to these classes. Michael Powell, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1843, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of switchman was in 1843

Dictionary Entries Near switchman

Cite this Entry

“Switchman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/switchman. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

switchman

noun
switch·​man -mən How to pronounce switchman (audio)
: one who attends a railroad switch
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