Underground Railroad
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
The route by which runaway slaves were secretly transported through the Northern States to Canada and freedom.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Underground Railroad” mean?
The route by which runaway slaves were secretly transported through the Northern States to Canada and freedom.
Is “Underground Railroad” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.