a. and sb. [as if ad. mod.L. locōmōtīvus, f. L. locō, abl. of locus place + mōtīvus MOTIVE a. Cf. F. locomotif.
Suggested by the scholastic phrase in loco moveri (= moveri localiter) to move ‘locally’ or by change of position in space; cf. Aristotle’s ἡ κατὰ τόπον κίνησις.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to locomotion or movement from one place to another. Locomotive faculty (cf. F. faculté locomotive), the faculty or power of movement from place to place by an act of the will; so also locomotive power.
1612. W. Sclater, Chr. Strength, 12. Some kind of command over the locomotiue facultie.
1627. S. Ward, Happiness of Practice, 27. Like dying men, and sicke of Apoplexies and speech: but no faculty Loco-motiue, no power to stirre hand or foote.
1640. Bp. Reynolds, Passions (1658), 1105. The will can hinder seeing, not immediately, but by the loco-motive power; by closing the eyes.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. vii. 196. Complaints of gravity in animated and living bodies, where the nerves subside, and the faculty locomotive seems abolished.
1649. Bulwer, Pathomyot., I. vi. 35. To which the command of Reason and the will doe concurre with the locomotive power.
1666. Harvey, Morb. Angl., iv. 38. The manner whereby the faculty of the brain effects a locomotive action in any muscul.
1717. Prior, Alma, I. 287. If in the night too oft he [sc. a child] kicks, Or shows his loco-motive tricks.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. ii. The Homunculus is … endow’d with the same locomotive powers and faculties with us.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., I. iii. 62. As if the passive page of a book … instantly assumed at once loco-motive power.
1823. Bentham, Not Paul, 197. Except this exercise of the loco-motive faculty, nothing is there to distinguish him from the common stock of still-life.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. v. 438. The locomotive … functions are more active in persons of a sanguine temperament.
b. jocular. Of or pertaining to travel, or movement from one locality or country to another.
1771. Gray, in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843), 120. I rejoice you have met with Froissart: he is the Herodotus of a barbarous age:… his locomotive disposition,… his religious credulity, were much like those of the old Grecian.
1786. Observer, No. 85. III. 236. The locomotive mania of an Englishman circulates his person, and of course his cash, into every quarter of the kingdom.
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (1826), v. Concl. Considering them [stage coaches] as the very climax and pinnacle of locomotive griefs.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. vii. We conjecture that he has known sickness; and, in spite of his locomotive habits, perhaps sickness of the chronic sort.
1850. J. Struthers, My Own Life, iv. Poet. Wks. I. p. xlvii. The young man … laid aside his locomotive dreaming, and became not only reconciled but wedded to the locality.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., x. (1875), 143. In these locomotive days one is too apt to forget one’s neighbours.
c. Of or pertaining to vehicular locomotion. Locomotive power: power applied for transport purposes, as opposed to stationary power.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 671. Engines which have a locomotive principle [sc. as opposed to stationary engines].
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 219. Steam-engine … adapted for stationary, locomotive, or marine purposes.
2. Having the power of locomotion. a. Of an animal: That moves from place to place by its own powers of locomotion.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 49. They could not live and grow without food, they were not locomotive, and therefore could not go forth of their cells for it.
1709. T. Robinson, Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmld. & Cumbld., 33. These shell Fish which were not Loco-motive were left behind.
1794. Cowper, Needless Alarm, 64. The mind He scans of every locomotive kind; Birds of all feather, beasts of every name.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1843), I. 56. A caterpillar then may be regarded as a locomotive egg.
1851–6. Woodward, Mollusca, 248. The locomotive bivalves have generally the strongest hinges.
1879. G. Allen, Colour Sense, iii. 23. The young barnacles and balani are active, locomotive animals.
b. jocular. Of a person: That is constantly travelling from place to place.
1732. J. Whaley, Trav. of a Shilling, 66 Poems 186. Or when my dwelling I would change … My loco-motive Face was seen At Hampstead, or at Turnham-Green.
1810. Scott, Fam. Lett., 3 Oct. (1894), I. vi. 193. You being the more locomotive persons will I trust take another peep of Scotland.
1827. Sporting Mag., XX. 262. I have not been much loco-motive of late.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes (1850), 128/2. He had all his life been restless and locomotive, with an irresistible desire for change.
1878. C. Macgregor, in Monthly Packet, 19. Hadrian … was one of the most locomotive Emperors that Rome ever had.
1896. Farmer, Slang, Locomotive tailor, a tramping workman.
c. Of things; esp. of a vehicle or piece of machinery that moves in any direction by its own mechanism.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 670. Mr. Gordon has … taken out a patent for a locomotive carriage with the engine on springs.
1827. D. McNicoll, Wks. (1837), 185. This new locomotive world [sc. a sailing-vessel] … moves onward through the ocean.
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, viii. Behold ine … confined in a locomotive prison [sc. an ordinary carriage].
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 485. Such locomotive machines, impelled by steam power, as have been contrived for use upon common roads.
1846. Greener, Sci. Gunnery, 76. You put not a locomotive train in motion at once; if attempted, you break and fracture the whole carriages.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 366. Patent dibble, with locomotive machine attached.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., I. 283. She looked like a locomotive mass of verdure and flowers.
1860. All Year Round, No. 65. 352. The locomotive post-offices, with their great nets—as if they had been dragging the country for bodies.
d. spec. Locomotive engine, † locomotive steam engine: an engine constructed for movement from place to place by its own power (as opposed to ‘stationary’ engine), usually by the generation of steam; esp. a steam engine adapted to draw a train of carriages along a railway; a railway-engine. Now generally shortened to locomotive (see B. 1).
1815. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 50. The proprietors had provided a powerful locomotive steam engine, for the purpose of drawing … coal-waggons.
1815. Specif. of De Baader’s Patent, No. 3959. 7. Those complicated unwieldy and dangerous machines called locomotive engines or steam horses.
1823. Private Act (Stockton & Darlington) 4 Geo. IV., c. xxxiii. § 8. [To] make and erect such and so many loco-motive or moveable Engines as the said Company … shall from Time to Time think proper … for the Conveyance of Passengers.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. p. x. Locomotive and marine engines.
1861. Act 24 & 25 Vict., c. 70 § 13. Nothing in this Act contained shall authorize any Person to use upon a Highway a Locomotive Engine which shall … cause a … Nuisance.
3. Having the power to produce locomotion; adapted for or used in locomotion.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 207. [It] gives off minute twigs to the locomotive suckers placed on each side of its course.
1851–6. Woodward, Mollusca, 204. A cavity formed by the union of the locomotive organs.
B. sb.
1. = Locomotive engine (see A. 2 d).
1829. J. Walker, Rep. (7 March) to Directors L’pool & Manch. Railw. Co. (1831), 18. The quantity of work which the locomotives are capable of performing.
1831. Booth, L’pool & Manch. Railw. (ed. 2), 70. All established methods … horses, locomotives, and fixed engines.
1837. Longf., in Life (1891), I. 258. While steamboats and locomotives traverse field and flood with the speed of light.
1849. B. Barton, Select., etc. p. xxviii. A variety of noises, not unlike a locomotive at first starting.
1861. Act 24 & 25 Vict., c. 70 § 8. Every Locomotive propelled by Steam or any other than Animal Power to be used on any Turnpike Road or Public Highway.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 244/2. The two types of engines are known respectively as ‘inside cylinder locomotives’ and ‘outside cylinder locomotives.’
b. slang. pl. The legs.
1841. Laird of Logan, 24. The disher of dainties took to her locomotives—the infuriated man with the fork at her heels.
1843. W. T. Moncrieff, Scamps of Lond., i. 1 (Farmer). I will stop my locomotives directly. So now you may set your’s agoing as soon as you like.
1870. Sheffield Times, March (ibid.). Having regained his freedom he again made good use of his locomotives.
2. An animal having powers of locomotion.
1872. Dana, Corals, i. 25. It is not a solitary case; for there are many others of Actiniæ attaching themselves to locomotives—to the claws or backs of crabs [etc.].
3. Applied to an inferior kind of needle.
1880. Plain Hints Needlework, 95. There are a kind called ‘locomotives,’ on which no maker will place his mark.
4. attrib. and Comb., as locomotive-driver, engineer (also U.S. = -driver), -runner (U.S. = -driver); locomotive car U.S., a locomotive and a car combined in one vehicle; a dummy engine (Webster, 1864–97).
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 613. *Locomotive-driver.
1889. G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, p. v. I must not omit to acknowledge my obligations to the Chief *Locomotive Engineer.
1890. M. N. Forney, in Rail. Amer., 134. Locomotive engineers and firemen. Ibid., 137. *Locomotive-runners and firemen.
