wagon train

noun

: a column of wagons (as of supplies for a group of settlers) traveling overland

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Lawhorn served under Robert E. Lee in the Civil War and migrated to Texas by wagon train. Mitchell Parton, Dallas News, 31 Mar. 2023 Directed by Sidney Poitier, the movie stars Poitier and Harry Belafonte as cowboys in the late 1860s who lead a wagon train of Black settlers from Louisiana to the unsettled territories of Kansas, while fighting off white raiders hired by plantation owners to scare the passengers back to the South. Quinci Legardye, Harper's BAZAAR, 25 July 2022 The Donner Party was a group of pioneers that attempted to migrate from Illinois to California in search of opportunity via a wagon train that partly followed the Oregon Trail starting in the spring of 1846. Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 6 Mar. 2023 The wagon train also breaks up. Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 27 Feb. 2022 The wagon train faces its final challenge. Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2021 When he’s brought it up in the past, Jones has attributed the wagon train comparison to Barry Switzer, which makes even more sense during a season like this one. San Antonio Express-News, 13 Nov. 2021 In 1883, the fiery teen set out from Fort Worth with her family on a wagon train, bound for a new life in the American west. Lauren Hubbard, Town & Country, 8 Jan. 2023 For example, literary sources and analysis of burial grounds of the Goths from this period in the Balkans attest to the existence of a wagon train of women (and children) who followed the barbarian warbands along the Roman roads. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 10 May 2010 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wagon train.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1810, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of wagon train was in 1810

Dictionary Entries Near wagon train

Cite this Entry

“Wagon train.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wagon%20train. Accessed 30 May. 2023.

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