Carloads

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collective measurement of the total capacity for transporting goods or individuals, quantified by several vehicles used together
2. A significant amount of items or people that are distributed across multiple transport vehicles for delivery purposes
3. A quantity of goods or individuals that fill several transport vehicles serving a specific purpose together

Etymology: "Carloads" is the plural of "carload", a compound of "car" and "load" with a simple, transparent history. Its first element traces back through Middle English "carre", borrowed from Anglo-Norman, to Latin "carrus", a two-wheeled wagon. That Latin word itself came from Gaulish "karros", the Celtic term for a vehicle, which passed into Latin and from there into the languages of Western Europe. The second element, "load", is a native English word that has long meant a burden carried or the quantity a vehicle can hold. Joining the two produced a unit describing how much a railway wagon or motor vehicle holds, and the plural form simply counts several of those units. The word's meaning therefore stays close to its parts: a load of whatever fills one vehicle.

Synonyms: loads, freight