Word.ws English Dictionary

Sherman necktie

Syllables: Sher·man neck·tie/ˈʃɜːmən ˈnɛktaɪ/US/ˈʃɝmən ˈnɛktaɪ/

Sherman necktie noun: a segment of rail that has been heated and twisted into a loop, as a means of destroying a railway.

sherman necktie: a segment of rail that has been heated and twisted into a loop, as a means of destroying a railway
Image: Bubba73 (Jud McCranie), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

Sherman necktie (plural Sherman neckties)

  1. (US, historical, in plural) A segment of rail that has been heated and twisted into a loop, as a means of destroying a railway.
    • We were compelled to go by carriage, as the railroads had been destroyed, the fat-pine cross-ties burned to heat the rails and the red-hot rails wrapped around the trees growing near the track. We used to call these iron rails "Sherman's neckties," and the solemn-looking chimneys standing guard...[1917, James Morris Morgan, chapter XXVIII, in Recollections of a Rebel Reefer, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, page 244
    • As the Democrats met in Chicago to declare the war a failure, northern soldiers 700 miles away were making "Sherman neckties" out of the last open railroad into Atlanta by heating the rails over a bonfire of ties and twisting the iron around trees.1988, James M. McPherson, “We are Going to be Wiped Off the Earth”, in Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (The Oxford History of the United States; 6), New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press...

Examples of Sherman necktie in a sentence

  • The men destroyed nearly all property in their path, famously twisting railroad tracks around tree trunks—"Sherman neckties"—so they would never be usable again.2006, Christopher J. Olsen, “Confederate Families at War in 1864–1865”, in The American Civil War: A Hands-on History, New York, N.Y.: Hill...
  • He declared, "Let the destruction be so thorough that not a rail or tie can be used again." The troops had a two-day-long Sherman necktie party.2009, Marc [Josef] Wortman, “The First Bonfire”, in The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta, New York, N.Y.: PublicAffairs, →ISBN...

Synonyms of Sherman necktie

Forms of Sherman necktie

pluralSherman neckties
alternative formSherman's necktie

Origin of Sherman necktie

From Sherman, the surname of Union Army general William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891) + necktie. During the American Civil War, Sherman ordered the destruction of the rails of railways in order to obstruct the Confederate States Army.

Questions about Sherman necktie

What does Sherman necktie mean?
Sherman necktie means a segment of rail that has been heated and twisted into a loop, as a means of destroying a railway.
How do you use Sherman necktie in a sentence?
The men destroyed nearly all property in their path, famously twisting railroad tracks around tree trunks—"Sherman neckties"—so they would never be usable again.
What part of speech is Sherman necktie?
Sherman necktie is a noun.
How do you pronounce Sherman necktie?
Sherman necktie is pronounced /ˈʃɜːmən ˈnɛktaɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of Sherman necktie?
The plural of Sherman necktie is Sherman neckties.

Words near Sherman necktie in the dictionary

  1. sherm sticks
  2. sherm-head
  3. sherm-heads
  4. Sherman
  5. Sherman County
  6. Sherman necktie
  7. Sherman neckties
  8. Sherman Oaks
  9. Sherman statement
  10. Sherman statements
  11. Sherman's bow tie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Sherman necktie (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Sherman necktie.wav.

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