Online Etymology Dictionary

Amtrak: U.S. government-run railway corporation, 1971, contraction of American Track. Also is known as National Railway Passenger Corp.
underground (adv.): 1571, "below the surface," from under + ground (n.). Adj. is attested from 1610; fig. sense of "hidden, secret" is attested from 1632; adj. meaning "subculture" is from 1953, from World War II application to resistance movements against German occupation, on analogy of the dominant culture and Nazis. Noun sense of "underground railway" is from 1887 (phrase underground railway itself is attested from 1834).
Metro: Paris underground, 1904, from Fr. abbrev. of Chemin de Fer Métropolitain "Metropolitan Railway."
SNCF: French national railway, 1949, acronym for Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer.
third (adj.): O.E. metathesis of þridda, from P.Gmc. *thridjas (cf. O.Fris. thredda, O.S. thriddio, M.L.G. drudde, Du. derde, O.H.G. dritto, Ger. dritte, O.N. þriðe, Goth. þridja), from PIE *tritjos (cf. Skt. trtiyas, Avestan thritya, Gk. tritos, L. tertius, O.C.S. tretiji, Lith. trecias, O.Ir. triss). Related to O.E. þreo (see three). Metathesis of thrid into third is attested from c.950 in Northumbria, but thrid was prevalent up to 16c. The noun meaning "third part of anything" is recorded from 1382. Third rail in electric railway sense is recorded from 1890. Third World War as a possibility first recorded 1947. Third-rate "of poor quality" is from 1814, ult. from classification of ships (1649); third class in railway travel is from 1839. Third Reich (1930) is a partial transl. of Ger. drittes Reich (1923). Third party in law, insurance, etc., is from 1818.
diner: "one who dines, 1815," from dine. Meaning "railway car for eating" is 1890, Amer.Eng.; of restaurants built to resemble dining cars (or in some cases actual converted dining cars) from 1935.
saloon: 1728, Anglicized form of salon (q.v.), and originally used interchangeable with it. Meaning large hall in a public place (esp. a passenger boat) is from c.1835, also used of railway cars furnished like drawing rooms. Sense of "public bar" developed by 1841, Amer.Eng.
Main Line: "principal line of a railway," 1841; meaning "affluent area of residence" is 1930s, originally that of Philadelphia, from the "main line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city late 19c. that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs.
simonize: 1934, from simoniz, trademark for a type of car polish invented by George Simons, who along with Elmer Rich of the Great Northern Railway organized Simons Manufacturing Company to sell it in Chicago, U.S.A., in 1910. Rich and his brother, R.J. Rich, acquired sole ownership two years later.
subway: 1825, "underground passage" (for water pipes or pedestrians), from sub- + way. The sense of "underground railway in a city" is first recorded 1893, in ref. to Boston.
sidetrack (n.): "railway siding," 1835, from side (adj.) + track (q.v.). The verb meaning "to move (a train car) onto a sidetrack" is from 1880; fig. sense of "to divert from the main purpose" is attested from 1889.
non-stop: 1903, from non- + stop (v.), originally of railway trains.
U-bahn: Ger. or Austrian subway system, 1938 (originally in ref. to Berlin), from Ger. U-bahn, short for Untergrund-bahn, lit. "underground railway."
bumper: 1670s, "glass filled to the brim;" perhaps from notion of bumping as "large," or from a related sense of "booming" (see bump). Meaning "anything unusually large" is from 1759, slang. Meaning "buffer of a car" is from 1839, Amer.Eng., originally in reference to railway cars; 1926 of automobiles.
train (v.): "instruct, discipline, teach," 1540s, from train (n.), probably from earlier sense of "draw out and manipulate in order to bring to a desired form" (late 14c.). The meaning "to travel by railway" is recorded from 1856. Trainer is recorded from c.1600; trainee from 1841.
railroad (n.): 1757, from rail (n.1) + road. Originally "road laid with rails for heavy wagons (in mining)." The system itself seems to have been in use by late 17c. Application to passenger and freight trains dates from 1825, though tending to be replaced in this sense in England by railway (1812). The verb meaning "to convict quickly and perhaps unjustly" is from 1884.
depot: 1795, "warehouse," from Fr. dépôt "a deposit, place of deposit," from O.Fr. depost "a deposit or pledge," from L. depositum "a deposit," neut. pp. of deponere "lay aside" (see deposit). Military sense is from 1798; meaning "railway station" is first recorded 1842, Amer.Eng.
scenic: 1623, of or belonging to the stage or drama, from Fr. scénique (14c.), from L. scænicus, from Gk. skenikos, from skene (see scene). Meaning "of or belonging to natural scenery" is recorded from 1842. Of roads, etc., "offering fine views," recorded since 1914. Scenic railway is recorded from 1894.
narrow: O.E. nearu, from W.Gmc. *narwaz (cf. Fris. nar, O.S. naro, M.Du. nare), not found in other Gmc. languages and of unknown origin. The verb is O.E. nearwian, from the adj. Narrowly "only by a little" is attested from 1550s. Narrow-gauge railway is 4 feet 8.5 inches or less. The narrow seas (c.1400) were the waters between Great Britain and the continent and Ireland.
hump: 1680s (in hump-backed), from Du. homp "lump," from M.L.G. hump "bump," from P.Gmc. *khump-. Replaced, or perhaps influenced by, O.E. crump. A meaning attested from 1901 is "mound in a railway yard over which cars must be pushed," which may be behind the figurative sense of "critical point of an undertaking" (1914). The verb meaning "to do the sex act with" is attested from 1785, but the source of this indicates it is an older word. Humpback whale is from 1725.
coach (n.): 1550s, "large kind of carriage," from M.Fr. coche, from Ger. kotsche, from Hung. kocsi (szekér) "(carriage) of Kocs," village where it was first made. In Hungary, the thing and the name for it date from 15c., and forms are found in most European languages. Applied to railway cars 1866, Amer.Eng. Sense of "economy or tourist class" is from 1949. Meaning "instructor/trainer" is c.1830 Oxford University slang for a tutor who "carries" a student through an exam; athletic sense is 1861. Related: Coached; coaching.
terminal (adj.): 1459, "relating to or marking boundaries," from L. terminalis "pertaining to a boundary or end, final," from terminus "end, boundary line" (see terminus). Meaning "fatal" (terminal illness) is first recorded 1891. Sense of "situated at the extreme end of something" is from 1805. The noun sense of "end point of a railway line" is from 1888; that of "device for communicating with a computer" is first recorded 1954. Slang meaning "extreme" first recorded 1983.
meridian: c.1380, "noon," from O.Fr. meridien, from L. meridianus "of noon, southern," from meridies "noon, south," from meridie "at noon," altered by dissimilation from pre-L. *mediei die, loc. of medius "mid-" (see medial) + dies "day" (see diurnal). Cartographic sense first recorded 1391. The city in Mississippi, U.S., was settled 1854 (as Sowashee Station) at a railway junction and given its current name in 1860, supposedly by people who thought meridian meant "junction" (they perhaps confused the word with median).
tie (n.): "that with which anything is tied," O.E. teag, from P.Gmc. *taugo (cf. O.N. taug "tie," tygill "string"), from PIE *deuk- "to pull, to lead" (cf. O.E. teon "to draw, pull, drag;" see duke). Fig. sense is recorded from 1555. Meaning "equality between competitors" is first found 1680, from notion of a connecting link (tie-breaker is recorded from 1961). Sense of "necktie, cravat" first recorded 1761. The railway sense of "transverse sleeper" is from 1857, Amer.Eng. The verb is from O.E. tigan, tiegan. In the noun sense of "connection," tie-in dates from 1934. Tie-dye first attested 1904. Tie one on "get drunk" is recorded from 1951.
aisle: late 14c., ele, from O.Fr. ele "wing" (of a church), from L. ala, related to axilla "wing, upper arm, armpit," from PIE *aks- "axis" (see axis), via a suffixed form *aks-la-. The root meaning in "turning" connects it with axle and axis. Confused 15c. with unrelated ile "island" (perhaps from notion of a "detached" part of a church), and so it took an -s- when isle did, c.1700; by 1750 it had acquired an a-, on the model of French cognate aile. The word also was confused with alley, which gave it the sense of "passage between rows of pews or seats" (1731), which was then extended to railway cars, theaters, etc.
grade (n.): 1511, from Fr. grade "grade, degree," from L. gradus "step, degree," replacing M.E. gree "step, degree in a series," from O.Fr. grei "step," from L. gradus, related to gradi "to walk, step, go," from PIE *ghredh- (cf. Lith. gridiju "to go, wander," O.C.S. gredo "to come," O.Ir. in-greinn "he pursues," and second element in congress, progress, etc.). The verb is 1659, from the noun. Railway sense is from 1835. Meaning "division of a school curriculum equivalent to one year" is from 1835; that of "letter-mark indicating assessment of a student's work" is from 1886.
book: O.E. boc "book, writing, written document," traditionally from P.Gmc. *bokiz "beech" (cf. Ger. Buch "book" Buche "beech;" see beech), the notion being of beechwood tablets on which runes were inscribed, but it may be from the tree itself (people still carve initials in them). The O.E. originally meant any written document. Latin and Sanskrit also have words for "writing" that are based on tree names ("birch" and "ash," respectively). Meaning "libretto of an opera" is from 1768. Verb meaning "to enter for a seat or place, issue (railway) tickets" is from 1841; "to engage a performer as a guest" is from 1872. A betting book is from 1856; bookmaker in the wagering sense is from 1862.
schedule: 1397, sedule, cedule "ticket, label, slip of paper with writing on it," from O.Fr. cedule, from L.L. schedula "strip of paper," dim. of L. schida "one of the strips forming a papyrus sheet," from Gk. skhida "splinter," From stem of skhizein "to cleave, split" (see shed (v.) and cf. schism). The notion is of slips of paper attached to a document as an appendix (a sense maintained in U.S. tax forms). The specific meaning "printed timetable" is first recorded 1863 in railway use (the verb in this sense is from 1862). Modern spelling is 15c., in imitation of L.; the modern British pronunciation ("shed-yul") is from Fr. influence, while the U.S. pronunciation ("sked-yul") is from the practice of Webster, and is based on the Greek original.
tube: 1611, from M.Fr. tube (1460), from L. tubus "tube, pipe," of unknown origin. The London subway was christened the Twopenny Tube before it even opened (H.D. Browne, in the "Londoner" of June 30, 1900); tube for "cylindrical railway tunnel" is attested from 1847. The meaning "TV as a medium" is from 1959, short for cathode ray tube or picture tube. Tube top as a women's clothing style is attested from 1972. Tubular is attested from 1673, "having the form of a tube or pipe," but the modern slang sense is from 1982, Valspeak, from surfers' slang for a hollow, curling wave, ideal for riding. Tube steak is attested from 1963 as "frankfurter," slang meaning "penis" is recorded by mid-1980s. Tubing as a recreational pastime is recorded from 1975.
double: early 13c., from O.Fr. duble, from L. duplus "twofold," from duo "two" + -plus "fold." Verb meaning "to work as, in addition to one's regular job" is c.1920, circus slang, from performers who also played in the band. Double-header is first recorded 1869, Amer.Eng., originally a kind of fireworks or a railway train pulled by two engines; baseball sense is c.1890. Double Dutch "gibberish" is attested from 1864 (High Dutch for "incomprehensible language" is recorded from 1789). Double agent is first attested 1935; double date is from 1931. Double-take and double talk both first attested 1938. Military double time (1833) was originally 130 steps per minute; in modern U.S. Army 180 steps of 36 inches in a minute. To double park a motor vehicle is recorded from 1931.
make (v.): O.E. macian, from W.Gmc. *makojanan (cf. O.S. makon, O.Fris. makia "to build, make," M.Du. maken, O.H.G. mahhon, Ger. machen), from PIE *mag- "to knead, mix, make" (see may). Sense evolution probably is via prehistoric houses built of mud. Gradually replaced the main O.E. word, gewyrcan (see work). Meaning "to arrive at" (a place), first attested 1620s, originally was nautical. Formerly used in many places where specific verbs now are used, e.g. to make Latin (c.1500) "to write Latin compositions." This broader usage survives in some phrases, e.g. to make water "to urinate," to make a book "arrange a series of bets" (1828), make hay "to turn over mown grass to expose it to sun." Make do "manage with what is available" is attested from 1899. Make time "go fast" is 1887; make tracks in this sense is from 1834. Make the grade is 1912, perhaps from the notion of railway engines going up an incline. Phrase on the make "intent on profit or advancement" is from 1869. To make a federal case out of (something) popularized in 1959 movie "Anatomy of a Murder;" to make an offer (one) can't refuse is from Mario Puzo's 1969 novel "The Godfather." To make (one's) day is from 1909; menacing make my day is from 1971, popularized by Clint Eastwood in film "Sudden Impact" (1983). Related: Making.
time (n.): O.E. tima "limited space of time," from P.Gmc. *timon "time" (cf. O.N. timi "time, proper time," Swed. timme "an hour"), from PIE *di-mon-, from base *da- "cut up, divide" (see tide). Abstract sense of "time as an indefinite continuous duration" is recorded from 1388. Personified since at least 1509 as an aged bald man (but with a forelock) carrying a scythe and an hour-glass. In English, a single word encompasses time as "extent" and "point" (Fr. temps/fois, Ger. zeit/mal) as well as "hour" (e.g. "what time is it?" cf. Fr. heure, Ger. Uhr). Extended senses such as "occasion," "the right time," "leisure," or times (v.) "multiplied by" developed in O.E. and M.E., probably as a natural outgrowth of phrases like, "He commends her a hundred times to God" (O.Fr. La comande a Deu cent foiz).
"to have a good time ( = a time of enjoyment) was common in Eng. from c 1520 to c 1688; it was app. retained in America, whence readopted in Britain in 19th c." [OED]
Time of day (now mainly preserved in negation, i.e. what someone won't give you if he doesn't like you) was a popular 17c. salutation (e.g. "Good time of day vnto your Royall Grace," "Richard III," I.iii.18). Times as the name of a newspaper dates from 1788. Time warp first attested 1954; time capsule first recorded 1938, in ref. to New York World's Fair; time-travelling in the science fiction sense first recorded 1895 in H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine." To do time "serve a prison sentence" is from 1865. Time-honored is from 1593; time-worn is first attested 1729; time-keeper is from 1686; timeless "eternal" is 1628, earlier it meant "ill-timed" (1560). Time-limit is from 1880; time out in football is recorded from 1896. About time, ironically for "long past due time," is recorded from 1920. First record of timetable is attested from 1838, originally of railway trains. Behind the times "old-fashioned" is recorded from 1846, first attested in Dickens.