TRAILER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does trailer mean? 

• TRAILER (noun)
  The noun TRAILER has 4 senses:

1. someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind

2. an advertisement consisting of short scenes from a motion picture that will appear in the near future

3. a large transport conveyance designed to be pulled by a truck or tractor

4. a wheeled vehicle that can be pulled by a car or truck and is equipped for occupancy

  Familiarity information: TRAILER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRAILER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dawdler; drone; laggard; lagger; poke; trailer

Hypernyms ("trailer" is a kind of...):

bum; do-nothing; idler; layabout; loafer (person who does no work)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trailer"):

lingerer; loiterer (someone who lingers aimlessly in or about a place)

plodder; slowcoach; slowpoke; stick-in-the-mud (someone who moves slowly)

potterer; putterer (a person who putters about)

straggler; strayer (someone who strays or falls behind)

Derivation:

trail (to lag or linger behind)

trail (move, proceed, or walk draggingly or slowly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An advertisement consisting of short scenes from a motion picture that will appear in the near future

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

preview; prevue; trailer

Hypernyms ("trailer" is a kind of...):

ad; advert; advertisement; advertising; advertizement; advertizing (a public promotion of some product or service)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A large transport conveyance designed to be pulled by a truck or tractor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("trailer" is a kind of...):

conveyance; transport (something that serves as a means of transportation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trailer"):

car carrier (a trailer that can be loaded with new cars for delivery to sales agencies)

semi; semitrailer (a trailer having wheels only in the rear; the front is supported by the towing vehicle)

Holonyms ("trailer" is a part of...):

articulated lorry; rig; semi; tractor trailer; trailer truck; trucking rig (a truck consisting of a tractor and trailer together)

Derivation:

trail (drag loosely along a surface; allow to sweep the ground)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A wheeled vehicle that can be pulled by a car or truck and is equipped for occupancy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

house trailer; trailer

Hypernyms ("trailer" is a kind of...):

wheeled vehicle (a vehicle that moves on wheels and usually has a container for transporting things or people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trailer"):

camper trailer (a trailer equipped for occupancy (especially for holiday trips))

manufactured home; mobile home (a large house trailer that can be connected to utilities and can be parked in one place and used as permanent housing)

Derivation:

trail (drag loosely along a surface; allow to sweep the ground)

 Context examples 

Elementary school students sang, Elder Nelson White provided a prayer, and the buffalo were released from a livestock trailer into a into a 48-acre space set aside for them in Kinnear.

(Northern Arapaho Tribe welcomes buffalo herd in Wyoming, United States, Wikinews)

In his case a trailer of ivy had given way under his weight, and we saw by the light of a lantern the mark on the lawn where his heels had come down.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)