yardhorse
English
Etymology
From yard + horse. The name is figurative, calling a tractor a horse (compare iron horse for locomotive); the name as a solid compound seems not to be attested in an earlier sense referring to a draft horse working in a yard such as a barnyard, lumberyard, or coalyard, although as an open compound or sum of parts, yard horse would be unsurprising there.
Noun
yardhorse (plural yardhorses)
- A heavy-duty tractor designed for moving shipping containers on chassis around a shipping terminal.
- 1975, Jury Verdicts Weekly - Volume 19, page 4:
- Plaintiffs contended that on the night of the subject accident the decedent unhooked the yardhorse from a trailer and had parked it 10 feet in front of the trailer to drop a nosepin on the trailer; that after the decedent left the yardgoat- and while he was attempting to lower the nosepin, the yardgoat, which apparently had been in neutral, silently engaged into reverse, moved back and crushed the decedent under the trailer.
- 1980, Hobart McKinley Conway, The Airport City: Development Concepts for the 21st Century, page 139:
- A yardhorse is used to move the air-truck container to the 747 containership.
- 2017, Hildebrand, Gregory G. Noll, & Bill Hand, Intermodal Container Emergencies, →ISBN, page 89:
- For example, containers are constantly being loaded and unloaded, yardhorses are moving containers throughout the terminal, cranes and stackers are at work, and so forth.