train
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: trān
ipa: /tɹeɪn/
ipa: [t͡ʃʰɹeɪ̯n]
ipa: [t̠ɹ̠̊˔e̞ɪ̯n]
rhymes: -eɪn
Forms: form: trains
form: training
form: trained
form: trained
Etymology: From Middle English trayne (“train”), from Old French train (“a delay, a drawing out”), from traïner (“to pull out, to draw”), from Vulgar Latin *traginō, from *tragō, from Latin trahō (“to pull, to draw”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to pull, draw, drag”). The verb was derived from the noun in Middle English.
For the meaning to teach compare typologically Russian ната́скивать (natáskivatʹ) (akin to тащи́ть (taščítʹ)).
Senses: examples: text: She trained seven hours a day to prepare for the Olympics.
glosses: To practice an ability.
examples: text: You can't train a pig to write poetry.
text: The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.
ref: 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
glosses: To teach and form (someone) by practice; to educate (someone).
examples: text: I trained with weights all winter.
glosses: To improve one's fitness.
glosses: To proceed in sequence.
examples: text: The assassin had trained his gun on the minister.
glosses: To move (a gun) laterally so that it points in a different direction.
examples: text: The vine had been trained over the pergola.
text: He trains the young branches to the right hand or to the left.
ref: 1805, Francis Jeffrey, The Edinburgh Review:
topics: agriculture
business
horticulture
lifestyle
glosses: To encourage (a plant or branch) to grow in a particular direction or shape, usually by pruning and bending.
examples: text: At least 10 lawsuits have been filed this year against A.I. companies, accusing them of training their systems on artists’ creative work without consent.
ref: 2023 July 15, Sheera Frenkel, Stuart A. Thompson, “‘Not for Machines to Harvest’: Data Revolts Break Out Against A.I.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
qualifier: machine learning
glosses: To feed data into an algorithm, usually based on a neural network, to create a machine learning model that can perform some task.
examples: text: Colson was to truck the 'plane to Alice Springs, where it would be trained to Adelaide for repairs.
ref: 1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 46:
glosses: To transport (something) by train.
topics: business
mining
glosses: To trace (a lode or any mineral appearance) to its head.
examples: text: I got a twix on the 128 version being fixed and trained by Mad Max at M2K BBS 208-587-7636 in Mountain Home Idaho. He fixes many games and puts them on his board. One of my sources for games and utils.
ref: 2000, Sensei David O.E. Mohr - Lord Ronin from Q-Link, “WTB:"The Last V-8" C128 game -name correction”, in comp.sys.cbm (Usenet):
text: In the mid-1980s, demoparties were also copyparties, where the first so called hot releases of cracked and trained games changed hands. However, illegal software copying later disappeared […]
ref: 2021, Mark J. P. Wolf, Encyclopedia of Video Games:
topics: video-games
glosses: To create a trainer (cheat patch) for; to apply cheats to (a game).
examples: text: [I]t pleaſed the grekes at that tyme to ſe yͤ body of Hector ſo trayned by Achilles⸝ bycauſe he was wont to be ſo redoubtab[l]e to them⸝ […]
ref: 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “Of the Verbe”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio cxxii, verso; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
text: In hollow cube / Training his devilish enginery.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: To draw (something) along; to trail, to drag (something).
glosses: To trail down or along the ground.
raw_tags: of clothing
Derived terms: potty train
potty-train
pretrain
trainer
training
train up
voice train
weight-train
weight training
Related terms: exercise
work out