Word.ws English Dictionary

dragline excavator

Syllables: drag·line ex·ca·vat·orUK/ˈdɹæɡlaɪn ˈɛkskəˌveɪtə/US/ˈdɹæɡlaɪn ˈɛkskəˌveɪtɚ/

dragline excavator noun: any of several very large vehicles used for lifting, especially in the process of mining: basically an excavator which drags its bucket to fill it.

Noun

dragline excavator (plural dragline excavators)

  1. Any of several very large vehicles used for lifting, especially in the process of mining: basically an excavator which drags its bucket to fill it.
    • In mining with a dragline excavator, the upper half to two-thirds of the alluvium contains too little of the previous metals to warrant washing; hence this part of the overburden is lifted by the excavator and dumped to one side of the cut.1940, J. B. Mertie, Jr., “Economic Geology”, in The Goodnews Platinum Deposits, Alaska (United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Bulletin; no. 918), Washington, D.C.: Government...
    • A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end of a boom. The operator first lowers the bucket mouth down where earth is to be removed, then a second cable—the dragline—pulls the bucket across the surface. The weight of the bucket and the pull of the dragline make a blade at...2003, “Earthmoving Machinery”, in Wendy Horobin, editor, How It Works: Science and Technology, 3rd edition, volume 5, Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 703, column 2
    Synonyms:
    dragline

Examples of dragline excavator in a sentence

  • A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end of a boom.2003, “Earthmoving Machinery”, in Wendy Horobin, editor, How It Works: Science and Technology, 3rd edition, volume 5, Tarrytown, N.Y....
  • An alternative to the power shovel is the dragline excavator[…].2008, Douglas C. McVarish, American Industrial Archaeology: A Field Guide, Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, →ISBN:
  • Teams of horses and a dragline excavator, an earth mover atop skids, worked to repair, strengthen, and raise older levees, create a new, two-mile long river channel, and build new levees.2013, Paul J. P. Sandul, “Both ‘Country Town’ and ‘Bustling Metropolis’: How Boosterism, Suburbs, and Narrative Helped Shape Sacramento’s...

Synonyms of dragline excavator

Forms of dragline excavator

pluraldragline excavators

Questions about dragline excavator

What does dragline excavator mean?
Dragline excavator means any of several very large vehicles used for lifting, especially in the process of mining: basically an excavator which drags its bucket to fill it.
How do you use dragline excavator in a sentence?
A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end of a boom.
What part of speech is dragline excavator?
Dragline excavator is a noun.
How do you pronounce dragline excavator?
Dragline excavator is pronounced /ˈdɹæɡlaɪn ˈɛkskəˌveɪtə/ (UK).
What is the plural of dragline excavator?
The plural of dragline excavator is dragline excavators.

Words near dragline excavator in the dictionary

  1. dragless
  2. draglessness
  3. draglift
  4. draglifts
  5. dragline
  6. dragline excavator
  7. dragline excavators
  8. draglines
  9. dragling
  10. draglings
  11. draglink

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dragline excavator (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-dragline excavator.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dragline excavator.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dragline_excavator. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.