derail Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb cause to run off the tracks
    • they had planned to derail the trains that carried atomic waste
  2. verb run off or leave the rails
    jump.
    • the train derailed because a cow was standing on the tracks

WordNet

De*rail" transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Derailed ; present participle & verbal noun Derailing
Definitions
  1. To cause to run off from the rails of a railroad, as a locomotive. Lardner.

Webster 1913