Word.ws English Dictionary

handsignalman

handsignalman noun: a person who gives a signal by hand, in particular on a railway.

Noun

handsignalman (plural handsignalmen)

  1. A person who gives a signal by hand, in particular on a railway.
    • The 12.25 train travelled without incident over the single line and the pilotman saw the Vange handsignalman's green flag from about ½ mile away.1961 December, “Talking of Trains: Derailment near Laindon”, in Trains Illustrated, page 717
    • [...] 1. Handsignalmen, where needed, ought to wear a conspicuous orange/yellow cape (like many road workmen) to draw attention to them.1964 April, “Letters: Rethinking emergency procedures”, in Modern Railways, page 274

Forms of handsignalman

pluralhandsignalmen
alternative formhand signalman

Origin of handsignalman

From hand + signalman.

Questions about handsignalman

What does handsignalman mean?
Handsignalman means a person who gives a signal by hand, in particular on a railway.
What part of speech is handsignalman?
Handsignalman is a noun.
What is the plural of handsignalman?
The plural of handsignalman is handsignalmen.

Words near handsignalman in the dictionary

  1. handshoes
  2. handshook
  3. handsier
  4. handsies
  5. handsiest
  6. handsignalman
  7. handsignalmen
  8. handsiness
  9. handsling
  10. handslings
  11. handsoap

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handsignalman (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.

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