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They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.
Chris Christie

Meaning of "third rail" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF THIRD RAIL

third rail play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF THIRD RAIL

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Third rail is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES THIRD RAIL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

third rail

Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third rail systems are always supplied from direct current electricity. The third-rail system of electrification is unrelated to the third rail used in dual-gauge railways.

Definition of third rail in the English dictionary

The definition of third rail in the dictionary is an extra rail from which an electric train picks up current by means of a sliding collector to feed power to its motors. Other definition of third rail is a cause or topic that is considered extremely dangerous for a person to support or comment on.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE THIRD RAIL

third eye
third eyelid
third floor
third form
third gender
third house
Third International
third man
third man argument
Third Market
third molar
Third Order
third party
third party, fire and theft
third person
third reading
Third Reich
Third Republic
third sector
third space

WORDS THAT END LIKE THIRD RAIL

altar rail
bullhead rail
communion rail
curtain rail
dado rail
fife rail
flanged rail
flat-bottomed rail
free on rail
land rail
light rail
live rail
picture rail
pin rail
plate rail
rail
slip rail
towel rail
trail
water rail

Synonyms and antonyms of third rail in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «third rail» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF THIRD RAIL

Find out the translation of third rail to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of third rail from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «third rail» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

第三轨
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

tercer carril
570 millions of speakers

English

third rail
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

तीसरी रेल
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

السكك الحديدية الثالث
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

третий рельс
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

terceiro trilho
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

তৃতীয় রেল
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

troisième rail
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Kereta api ketiga
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

dritte Schiene
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

第三軌条
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

셋째 레일
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Alur katelu
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

đường sắt thứ ba
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

மூன்றாவது இரயில்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

तिसरी रेल्वे
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Üçüncü ray
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

terza rotaia
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

trzecia szyna
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

третій рейок
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

a treia șină
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

τρίτη ράγα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

derde spoor
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

tredje järnvägs
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

tredje skinne
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of third rail

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «THIRD RAIL»

The term «third rail» is regularly used and occupies the 64.057 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
70
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «third rail» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of third rail
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «third rail».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «THIRD RAIL» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «third rail» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «third rail» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about third rail

EXAMPLES

2 QUOTES WITH «THIRD RAIL»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word third rail.
1
Chris Christie
They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.
2
John Shelton Reed
Barbecue is the third rail of North Carolina politics.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «THIRD RAIL»

Discover the use of third rail in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to third rail and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Riding the Third Rail: The Story of Ontario's Health ...
Presents the story of one commission's and one province's contribution to the slow, difficult, ongoing struggle to create genuine health care systems throughout Canada.
Duncan Gordon Sinclair, Mark Rochon, Peggy Leatt, 2005
2
Third Rail: The Poetry of Rock and Roll
"The poets who fill these pages have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of Rock and Roll. -- from the Foreword by Bono "The thread or the theme That holds this tune Together is the same One that rips it open...." -- ...
Jonathan Wells, 2007
3
The Third Rail
But when his girlfriend—the gorgeous judge Rachel Swenson—is abducted, Kelly realizes that the only way he’s going to find the killer is to excavate his own stormy past. From the Paperback edition.
Michael Harvey, 2010
4
Third Rail: An Eddy Harkness Novel
businessman, Mach saw a new opportunity in Third rail, so different from other drugs. and much more lucrative. Mach's thugs cross the field like a trio of clever crows flying toward a shiny silver nest. Mach gave harkness back his gun so he ...
Rory Flynn, 2014
5
The Third Rail
'The Third Rail,' an electrifying, 'quasi-real-time-mental-journal-esque' memoir as a man unravels while his mother battles cancer.
Ganious, 2003
6
Electric Railway Engineering
THIRD -RAIL SYSTEMS 64. Rail Location.—T he conductor, called the third rail, or the contact mil, from which current is taken for the cars in the third-rail system, is an iron rail mounted a short distance from the ground and to one side of the ...
Francis H. Doane, 2008
7
The Third Rail: Confronting Our Pension Failures
Moreover, retirement plans are now being compromised by high pension obligations and a shrinking workforce. Canada has the capacity to diffuse this ticking pension time bomb with some hard choices, posits Leech.
Jim Leech, Jacquie McNish, 2013
8
A Century of Subways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York's ...
The story begins before 1904. For years, everyone knew only a new public transportation system could break the gridlock strangling the most crowded city in America.
Brian J. Cudahy, 2004
9
Modern Tribology Handbook, Two Volume Set
A typical third rail installation is shown in Figure 34.4 1a, while Figure 34.41b illustrates an overhead line. London Underground and the Skytrain system pioneered in Vancouver use separate conductors for both the feed and return paths; they ...
Bharat Bhushan, 2000
10
Mining Haulage
Fig. 24 shows the arrangement of the track, gears, sprockets, etc. of a Morgan- Gardner combined third- and rack-rail type locomol' tive. The third rail is laid centrally between the two regular track rails. There are three sizes of third rail: standard, ...
Periscope Film, 2008

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «THIRD RAIL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term third rail is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Caught on Camera: Garbage can on subway's third rail explodes
Caught on Camera: Garbage can on subway's third rail explodes ... video is proving again just how vicious the electrified third rail of the subway can be. An MTA ... «WABC-TV, May 15»
2
MBTA Getting Advice From 'Peer' Cities
DePaola also said the MBTA planned to follow the lead of other systems in using deicing chemicals to prevent the third rail from freezing and losing contact with ... «WBUR, Mar 15»
3
Deadly Metro-North Train-Car Collision Cost $3.7M in Damages: Feds
The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report into the Feb. 3 crash said about 480 feet of third rail was damaged, along with the lead railcar. «NBC New York, Feb 15»
4
Suspension of MBTA rail service forces cancellation of Downeaster …
With no public trains running in Massachusetts on Wednesday because of the ... Officials said the train lost connection to the electrified third rail because of the ... «Press Herald, Feb 15»
5
'Third Rail' Is a Focus of Inquiry in Metro-North Crash
Now, a section of the electrified “third rail” powering today's Metro-North Railroad has become a focus of an investigation into last week's fatal train wreck in ... «Wall Street Journal, Feb 15»
6
Exclusive: New details on third rail involved in Metro-North crash
He said when the train hit the car, the vehicle plowed into the upturned end of the third rail, prying it free and sending it into the first and second cars of the train. «WABC-TV, Feb 15»
7
Metro-North Crash: 400 Feet of Third Rail Sliced Through Train
Some 400 feet of the electrified third rail sliced through the first car of a Metro-North train after it plowed into an SUV stalled on the tracks, burning the entire ... «Yahoo News, Feb 15»
8
7 Train Suspended for Hours Because of Ice on Third Rail, MTA Says
QUEENS — 7 trains were suspended along the entirety of the line because of ice on the third rail just north of Queensboro Plaza Monday, stranding ... «DNAinfo, Feb 15»
9
NTSB: Power to Third Rail Cut Off Half-Hour After Reports of Metro …
An arcing third rail continued being supplied with power for more than 30 minutes after smoke in a Metro tunnel was reported in Monday's fatal malfunction, the ... «NBC4 Washington, Jan 15»
10
Washington Metro fumes that killed one, sent dozens to hospital …
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Michael Flanigon said something contacted the third rail and caused an electrical arc. With News Wire ... «New York Daily News, Jan 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Third rail [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/third-rail>. Apr 2024 ».
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