cowcatcher

****************************************************************
Harvest a bounty of language information with a free
14-day trial to Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_sub.pl?refr=U_wod
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for November 3 is:

cowcatcher   \KOW-ketch-er\   noun
      : an inclined frame on the front of a railroad locomotive for throwing 
obstacles off the track

Example sentence: 
      For his entry in the town parade, John outfitted his black truck with a 
cowcatcher and smoke stack to resemble a 19th-century locomotive.

Did you know?
      New Jersey?s Camden and Amboy Railroad was the first in the U.S. to adopt 
the cowcatcher, adding it to its John Bull locomotive in the early 1830s. But, 
as the Model Railroader Cyclopedia warned, "don't ever let a railroad man hear 
you use 'cowcatcher.'" In its heyday, railroad workers preferred the name 
"pilot" for that v-shaped frame which, aside from pushing aside obstacles, 
helped to guide the train around curves. In the 1940s and '50s "cowcatcher" 
jumped the tracks and took on a new life in TV and radio advertising jargon. 
The term was used for a commercial that was aired immediately before a program 
and that advertised a secondary product of the program's sponsor. Such ads 
apparently got the name because they "went in front."





You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102