Obs. (exc. in TRAIN-OIL). Forms: 5–6 trane, 6 treine, 6–7 trayne, traine, 6– train. [In 15–16th c. trane, a. MLG. and LG. trân, MDu. traen, Du. traan, whence mod.Ger. tran, and Da., Sw. tran; all meaning ‘oil extracted or made to exude, spec. train-oil’; app. the same word as MLG. trân, trâne, MDu. traen, trâne, OHG. trahan, OS. *trahan, pl. trahni, OLFrank. pl. trâni (Ger. träne) ‘tear, drop,’ also gam or resin that exudes from trees, ‘lacrymae arborum’ (Kilian).] The earlier name of what is now called TRAIN-OIL.
1497. Maldon, Essex, Burgh-Deeds, Bundle 72 No. 4. Possessiatus de uno barrello olei vocat. trane.
1515. Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden), II. 92. The Crafte and misterie of Mercers hath vsed … othir grosse marchaundise as sopp, terre,… pik, Wax,… Trayne.
1545. Rates of Customs, d j. Woll oyle called trane the tonne iiii li.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 33. They pack them [pilchards] orderly in hogsheads … which afterwards they presse with great waights, to the end the traine may soke from them into a vessel placed in the ground to receyue it.
1712. A. van Leeuwenhoek, in Phil. Trans., XXVII. 441. Upon several Parts of these little Membranes, there lay Fat, which … they call the Train.
1766. Acc. Bks., in Ann. Reg., 283/2. They don’t drink train,… but use it in their lamps.
1802. Trans. Soc. Arts, XX. 212. The cod-oil, or common train, brought from Newfoundland.
b. attrib. as train-fat, -bottle. (See TRAIN-OIL.)
1698. Act 10 Will. III., c. 14 § 7. Any Houses Stages Cook-Rooms Train-Fats or other Conveniencies for fishing there [Newfoundland].
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4378/3. 23 Train-Fats burnt;… 1568 Hogsheads of Train-Oil destroyed.
1797. Crantz, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XIV. 610/1. Of the skins of the entrails [of the seal] they [Greenlanders] make their windows…; and they make train bottles of the maw.
