# origin of getting "rail roaded"...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 21, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154 "2002-05-21T19:16:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![piratz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@piratz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piratz)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154/1 "2002-05-21T19:16:29Z")

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I know the definition is approximate to quick and hasty action without regard to discussion…but where did the saying come from?

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**Author:** ![Rubicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Rubicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubicon)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154/2 "2002-05-21T21:12:46Z")

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I always thought the definition was more like “being overcome by more powerful forces”. I thought “ram rodded” was more like your quick and and hasty action without discussion.

WAG, since I’m too lazy to hit the OED, but I believe the railroads used eminent domain to claim lots of property from people when they were built. You could try to stop them, but since everyone who was anyone was making money off the railroads, the little folks often were screwed–or “railroaded”.

If that’s not right, at least it sounds good.

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**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154/3 "2002-05-22T00:21:27Z")

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According to the OED, In the sense of

> [@](#):
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> “To accomplish (an action) with great speed; to ‘rush’ (a person or thing) to or into a place, through a process, occas. from a position, etc. Also const. without prep., to hustle, to coerce”

it’s of US derivation, with a first recorded use in 1884

In the sense of

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> “To send (someone) to a place of punishment with summary speed or by means of false evidence,”

it’s first use is from 1877.

Both came from the sense of something happening with great haste. Railroads presented an incredible jump in the speed of transportation, so it’s easy to see how it came to mean either of the above definitions (esp. in the the second sense, which smacks of the same hastiness as a kangaroo court).

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154/4 "2002-05-22T02:01:01Z")

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I think it comes from the same derivation as “Being ridden out of town on a rail”.

My guess would be that in the bad old days, if some guy was causing a lot of trouble in town the townspeople or sheriff might solve the problem by just giving the guy a one-way ticket out of Dodge on the next train.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-getting-rail-roaded/110154/5 "2002-05-22T02:30:02Z")

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> [@](#):
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> I think it comes from the same derivation as “Being ridden out of town on a rail”.

Well, as long as one does not think that “rail” has the same meaning in each case.

The rail that one was run out of town on was generally a section of split-rail fence–handy to most towns, not nailed in place, having sharp edges and splinters.

In the sense of “being precipitously removed” they probably share some meaning.