Forms: 4–7 trayne, (5 treyne), 5–7 trayn, 6 (Sc.), 7 trane, 6–7 traine, 6– train. [ME. a. F. traîn-er, in OF. traïner, also trahiner (11th c. in Hatz.-Darm.); app. a deriv. of L. trahĕre (in pop.L. *tragĕre, whence F. traire) to draw, drag; = Pr. trahinar; cf. Sp. trajinar to convey, ‘traginar to transport by pack-horses’ (Minsheu), It. trainare ‘to traine, to traile, to draggle or draw along the ground’ (Florio).
Hatz.-Darm, suppose a sb. *tragīna from *tragere, formed like rapīna, ruīna, fr. rapĕre, ruĕre, whence the vb. They do not identify this *tragīna with the existing traine, which is taken as a new formation from the vb. like train, masc.]
I. 1. trans. To draw or pull along after one; to drag, haul, trail. Obs. or arch.
c. 1450. Merlin, xviii. 299. He hente hir be the tresses and drough hir toward the horse trailinge…; and so he hath hir trayned and drawen.
1530. Palsgr., 383. To se the body of Hector so trayned by Achilles.
1607. Markham, Caval., III. i. (1617), 9. This chase or sport we … call a Traine sent, because the sent which the Houndes hunt is trained alongst the fields.
1623. trans. Favine’s Theat. Hon., VI. iv. 124. To traine the baggadge of the Christian Army there were three score thousand Chariots.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 553. Behold … the Foe Approaching…; in hollow Cube Training his devilish Enginrie [cannons].
1831. Scott, Ct. Robt., iii. He cannot be so false of word as to train me to prison under false pretexts.
b. intr. (for pass.) Of a garment: To hang down, esp. so as to drag or trail. Now rare.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 27. Below her ham her weed did somewhat trayne.
1702. W. J., trans. Bruyn’s Voy. Levant, xxxi. 117. They let it [the tail] train down till they come to the lower End.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 184. A full black silk petticoat, sloped just to train a very little on the ground.
1827. [see TRAINING ppl. a. 3].
† 2. fig. (trans.) a. To draw out, lengthen out (in time), protract, spin out; also, to spend, pass (time, one’s life); esp. to pass slowly or wearily, ‘drag on.’ Also intr. Obs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 499/1. Traynyn, or tranyyn, or longe taryyn (… S. or abydyn), moror, differo.
1539. [see TRAINING vbl. sb. 1].
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., xcv. 8. To traine the time and tarie you … folli it weare.
a. 1560. Becon, Jewel of Joy, Wks. II. 5. Nether by letters nor yet by report … could we lerne wher you trained your life.
1652. J. Wright, trans. Camus’ Nat. Paradox, x. 259. To seek a glorious Death … rather than train so obscure and discontented a Life.
b. To draw out in length, to extend; to drawl, utter slowly (a word, phrase, name). rare.
1651. Cleveland, Smectymnuus, 10. A Name which it ’twere train’d would spread a mile.
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xlii. He trained out the [word] old.
† c. To draw after itself, draw with it; to involve as a consequence; to bring in its train. Obs.
1579. Fenton, Hist. Guicciard. (1618), 12. If those small forces trained with them so great fortunes.
1619. Sir J. Finett, in Eng. & Germ. (Camden), 63. A busynes that is lyke to trayn wyth it a consequence of continuall trouble.
† d. To strain the sense of. Obs. rare–1.
1550. Bale, Eng. Votaries, II. 31. The scriptures he had so trayned with the rules of logycke, that by them he was able lo maynteyne all falshede.
† 3. To draw, lead, conduct, bring. Obs.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Jude, 22. The Hebrues … whom … Iesus trained out of the … bondage of the Egipcians.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CV. xii. His chosen troopes with triumph on he traines.
1642. Chas. I., Declar., 12 Aug., 16. Their resort was to the people, whom upon severall occasions they had trained down to Westminster.
II. 4. fig. To draw by art or inducement; to draw on; to allure, entice, decoy; to lead astray, deceive, take in. arch. (The most frequent early sense. ? Influenced by TRAIN sb.2)
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 354. The lord dowglas toward thaim raid;… Thame neir his battell for till trayne.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1683. Ȝe do bott trayne us … wyth trofelande wordez.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, III. 1015. His mortall foon Þat … him to treyne leide out hoke & laas.
1588. T. Hughes, Misfort. Arth., V. i. 88. So did his witte and feature feede that hope, Which falsely trainde me to this wofull hap.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. ii. 21. We did traine him on.
a. 1694. Tillotson, Serm. (1743), I. 237. Being insensibly trained on from one degree of wickedness to another.
1781. Hist. Eur., in Ann. Reg., 92/1. Being trained into a well-laid ambush.
1899. Goldw. Smith, United Kingd., I. 200. He [Bruce] trained him [Comyn] to a church and stabbed him there.
† b. In good or neutral sense: To draw by persuasion; to persuade, induce, convert. Obs.
1526. in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), I. v. 67. The King had hopes to train the Emperor to reason by doulce methods.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Thess., 2. Howe easely you were trayned from the supersticion of your forefathers,… vnto the true wurshippe of God.
1612. Brerewood, Lang. & Relig., 154. They have been by little and little brought and trayned to the Greek religion.
III. 5. To treat or manipulate so as to bring to the proper or desired form; spec. in Gardening, to manage (a plant or branch) so as to cause it to grow in some desired form or direction, esp. against a wall, or upon a trellis or the like.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 1032. And bowis ore hit trayn So lough and rare, on hem that bees may dwelle.
1688. Evelyn, Diary, 24 March. His orangerie and gardens, where the wall fruit trees are most exquisitely nail’d and train’d.
1792. Mar. Riddell, Voy. Madeira, 9. The vines are trained and supported by poles.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. ix. 289. A garden … in which Scott delighted to train his flowers and creepers.
1852. O. W. Holmes, My Aunt, ii. Why will she train that winter curl In such a spring-like way?
1871. [see TRAINED ppl. a. 3].
1888. Nicholson’s Dict. Gard., s.v. Training, Sap flowing most forcibly into branches trained in an upright direction.
6. To subject to discipline and instruction for the purpose of forming the character and developing the powers of, or of making proficient in some occupation. (Also with up.) a. To instruct and discipline generally; to educate, rear, bring up.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., Pref. ***ij b. For teachyng and trainyng young children.
1611. Bible, Prov. xxii. 6. Traine vp a childe in the way he should goe.
1727. Gay, Fables, I. ix. Seek you to train your fav’rite boy? Each caution, ev’ry care employ.
1877. E. R. Conder, Bas. Faith, iii. 103. This protracted pupilage … is admirably calculated to train and perfect his moral character.
b. To instruct and discipline in or for some particular art, profession, occupation, or practice; to exercise, practise, drill; to make proficient by such instruction and practice (see also TRAINED ppl. a.). Const. in, for, to.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, I. vi. 106. To be trayned, and exercysed in the feictes of warre.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., I. 3/1. Bardus … was highlie renoumed … for inuention of dities and musicke, wherein … he trained his people.
1661. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 170. To march, trayne and exercise his company, according to the moderne discipline of warr.
c. 1680. Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 39. Such advocates as had been trained up in the civil law.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxi. To a false tale you will not desire me to train my tongue.
1859. Musketry Instr., 92. Bandsmen … fully trained to the use of the rifle.
1869. Huxley, in Sci. Opin., 21 April, 464/1. He was thoroughly trained in the physical and chemical science of his day.
c. To discipline and instruct (an animal) so as to make it obedient to orders, or capable of performing tricks; to prepare a race-horse for its work.
1609. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 181. Richard Eastwood, for his paynes and his coache, to trayne the horses theirin, xxxs.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 166. These Lions … are … trained in parkes to hunt others.
1777. Priestley, Matt. & Spir. (1782), I. xxii. 286. Dogs … may be trained to catch hares.
1872. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, i. (1880), 33. Animals can be trained by man, but they cannot train themselves.
1894. Astley, 50 Years Life, I. 176. The present Robert Sherwood, who now trains at Newmarket.
d. To bring by a course of diet and exercise to the required state of physical efficiency for a race or other athletic feat.
1835–71. [see TRAINING vbl. sb. 2 c].
1887. Stevenson, Mem. & Portr., vi. Pastoral, 96. A threat of latent anger in the expression, like that of a man trained too fine and harassed with perpetual vigilance.
e. With adv. or compl. adj.: To bring into a specified condition by or as by athletic training, Train off, to throw off by training.
1879. Spectator, 7 June, 720. The beasts, always worn, for that terrible, incessant pulling trains them down almost visibly.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, viii. 165. You’re disgracefully out of condition,… pure tallow born of overfeeding. Train it off, Dickie.
7. intr. for pass. To undergo or follow a course of instruction and discipline; in early quots., to go through a course of military drill, to drill.
1605. Stow, Ann., 1310. The other 3000 citizens … shewed on the Miles end, where they trained all that day.
1685. Wood, Life, 28 June (O.H.S.), III. 146. 4 loades of muskets, pikes, etc. … for the scholars to train with.
1811. Byron, Hints fr. Horace, 703. The youth who trains to ride, or run a race, Must bear privations.
1906. Beatrice Harraden, Scholar’s Dau., vii. My uncle thought I’d better train to be a doctor.
b. intr. With adv. To get into some condition by training; as train on, to improve in condition or form by training, to become more proficient; † train off, to get out of condition, lose one’s vigour or skill, as by over-training; train down, to reduce one’s weight with the object of getting fit for an event or feat. Also fig.
1776. E. Topham, Lett. fr. Edinburgh, 98. When they are young they dance extremely well; but afterwards (to speak in the language of the turf) they train off.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXVI. 230. A hard round,… that convinced the judges of boxing that Blake had trained off.
1815. Byron, Lett. to Moore, 10 Jan. It is impossible to read what you have lately done … without seeing that you have trained on tenfold.
1866. Maclaren, Training, 22. Under it a powerful man dwindles; and this, not from ‘training down’ as the phrase goes.
IV. † 8. trans. To pursue by the ‘train’ or trail; to trace, track. Obs.
1583. [see TRAINING ppl. a. 2].
1592. Greene, Groat’s W. Wit, C iij b. They followed and trayned the Foxe and Badger to the hole.
b. Mining. (See quots.)
1710. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., II. Training a Load, in the Miner’s Language, is searching for, and pursuing a Vein of Ore.
1895. Funk’s Standard Dict., Train, v. … 5. In mining, to trace, as a lode to its head.
9. intr. † a. To walk in a person’s train or retinue. Obs. rare–1. b. Train off: to draw off or away.
1633. P. Fletcher, Hymen, in Poet. Misc., 55. With her a troop of fairest wood-nymphs trains.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Sutherl. (Colburn), 27. James gradually trained off from the party. Ibid. (1833), Widow & Marquess, ii. They [suitors] had trained off, upon finding … that Harriet’s boasted fortune was visionary.
10. trans. To direct, point, or aim (a cannon or other fire-arm, or transf. a photographic camera); to bring by horizontal movement to bear (on, upon, the thing aimed at). Cf. TRAINING vbl. sb. 4.
1841. Totten, Naval Text-Bk., 417. To train a gun, to point it forward or abaft the beam.
1870. H. Meade, New Zealand, 236. A forty-pounder … trained on them during the conference.
1873. Brit. Q. Rev., 108. Their ‘horizontal range,’ or the arc over which they could be trained, should be made small.
1889. G. Kennan, in Century Mag., May, 73/2. We set up the camera and trained it upon a part of the picturesque throng.
b. intr.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., To train off, to go off obliquely: said of the flight of a shot.
11. trans. To convey by a railway train. rare.
1886. Pall Mall G., 14 July, 14/1. Ship it [sewage] to Ireland … and let Paddy cart or train it away … to his potato patch or cornfield.
1892. Field, 28 May, 783/2. Ship the canoe on to the railway and train it right up the Wye valley.
b. intr. To go by train, travel by railway. Also train it (colloq.).
1888. Pall Mall G., 2 April, 4/2. So exhausted were the men from the effect of the previous day’s ride,… that all trained from Winchester to Farnham.
1888. Harper’s Mag., Nov., 954/2. From Aberdeen to Edinburgh we trained it by easy stages.
12. intr. To act sportively, romp, ‘carry on.’ U.S. colloq.
1889. Howells, Hazard New Fort., II. viii. The girl broke into a fondly approving laugh at his drolling. ‘Oh, I guess you love to train!’
1889. Farmer, Americanisms, To train. New England girls use this term to denote acts of romping, or, to employ an English phrase, which seems its exact equivalent, to train is ‘to carry on.’
