Meanings
plural telpher lines
- transportAn electrically-powered track and cable designed for conveying freight-filled vehicles.
It must not be supposed that I look on the new telpher lines as likely to compete with railways or injure their traffic.
1883, Fleming Jenkin, “On Telpherage”, in Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine, volume 29, page 5112 more examples
As a rule, telpher lines are of comparatively limited length. Originally, all telpher lines consisted of an elevated road, formed of a wire cable, on which vantages electrically propelled cars ran.
1905, Edwin James Houston, Electricity in Every-day LifeThe question was finally decided by installing several new vertical retorts and an electric telpher line to replace manual charging and converying systems.
1912 March 1, “Electric Telpher Lines in Small Gas Works”, in Gas Age, volume 30, page 212Synonyms: telpher road
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn electrically-powered track and cable designed for conveying freight-filled vehicles.
Cite this entry
telpher line. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telpher%20line
“telpher line.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telpher%20line. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telpher line,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telpher%20line.
Source: telpher line on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.