Word.ws English Dictionary

Pullman

Syllables: Pull·manUK/ˈpʊlmən/

Pullman noun: a railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company.

pullman: a railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman...
Image: Simon Pielow, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

Pullman (plural Pullmans)

  1. (US) A railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company.
    • It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324
    • The conductor arrived at the same time as the Pullman attendant. Bond ordered Old Fashioneds, and stipulated Old Grandad Bourbon, chicken sandwiches, and decaffeined Sanka coffee so that their sleep would not be spoilt.1954, Ian Fleming, “The Silver Phantom”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 100
    Synonyms:
    Pullman car
  2. A train made up of Pullman coaches.

Proper noun

Pullman

  1. A surname, notably that of George Pullman.
  2. A neighbourhood of Richmond, Contra Costa County, California, named after the Pullman Company.
  3. A community area and neighbourhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, formerly a company town founded by George Pullman.
  4. An unincorporated community in Lee Township, Allegan County, Michigan.
  5. A neighbourhood of Amarillo, Potter County, Texas.
  6. A city in Whitman County, Washington.
  7. A town in Ritchie County, West Virginia.

Synonyms of Pullman

Forms of Pullman

pluralPullmans

Origin of Pullman

Ellipsis of Pullman car, after the Pullman Palace Car Company, named after American engineer and industrialist George Pullman (1831–1897).

Words formed from Pullman

Phrases with Pullman

Questions about Pullman

What does Pullman mean?
Pullman means a railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company.
What part of speech is Pullman?
Pullman can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Pullman?
Pullman is pronounced /ˈpʊlmən/ (UK).
What is the plural of Pullman?
The plural of Pullman is Pullmans.

Words near Pullman in the dictionary

  1. pulling up the ladder
  2. Pullinger
  3. Pullingers
  4. pullings
  5. pullins
  6. Pullman
  7. Pullman brown
  8. Pullman car
  9. Pullman cars
  10. Pullman loaf
  11. Pullman loaves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Pullman (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-Pullman.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-Pullman.wav.

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