funicular

Etymology

From Latin fūniculus (“cord”), diminutive from fūnis (“cord”) + -culus.

adj

1. Of, pertaining to, resembling, or powered by a rope or cable
2. (medicine) Of or pertaining to the umbilical cord.
3. (botany) Having a fleshy covering of the seed formed from the funiculus, the attachment point of the seed.
4. (geometry) catenary

noun

1. A particular type of rail transit system which ascends a steep urban or mountain incline, having usually two cars sharing a single track, with the cars linked by a moving cable and an arrangement of pulleys such that the descending car assists in the hoisting of the ascending car, i.e. the two cars serve as counterweights for each other.
   England's funiculars mostly hug the coast, and this is no coincidence. The development of the Victorian and Edwardian seaside resort played a central role in the uptake of funicular railways across England. January 13 2021, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Spectacular funiculars”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 50