Talk:train

re the "Connected sequence of people or things" definitions, this 2009 discussion for Wikipedia:Tribes 2 at http://www.tribesnext.com/forum/index.php?topic=804.0 could be illustrative. It is primarily based on "3. A sequence of events or ideas which are interconnected; a course or procedure of something." even though the phrase "rape train" makes it sound like the sexual slang from number 11.

The reason is that there was a common parlance in the Starsiege: Tribes games called "base rape" which involved occupying an enemy base and destroying their generators, inventory stations, plasma turrets, vehicle stations and so forth. This made it very easy to score kills against respawned enemies because they could not easily repair themselves, restore ammunition, or upgrade their weapons or armor. The idea of a 'rape train' in this context appears to be the mechanics of base rape: the sequence in which things were taken down, such as how to destroy a generator without wasting ammo (the faster it is done, the less damage is wasted on the rechargeable forcefield) so ammo (and time) could be conserved to attack the enemy team instead of their equipment.

Would this thread include useful citations for the 3rd definition? ScratchMarshall (talk) 15:43, 3 April 2018 (UTC)Reply

It's just about the French meaning that passed in English, it's as simple as that.

Chambers 1908 has this intransitive verb, presumably dated. I searched for a few possibilities ("trained to London", "trained to Brighton" etc.) but couldn't find much. Equinox ◑ 16:24, 4 September 2019 (UTC)Reply

Etymology: borrowed from Old French train (“a delay, a drawing out”), from traïner (“to pull out, to draw”),

"Train" is not a delay, it's like a camel caravan, a camel train. So, yes, it's like "traîner" in the meaning of "pulling out, drawing". It should be mentioned that it's "traîner" in modern French.