Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. in pl., the legs.

1841		Laird of Logan 24: The disher of dainties took to her locomotives – the infuriated man with the fork at her heels.
1843		W.T. Moncrieff Scamps of London I i: I will stop my locomotives directly.
1870		Sheffield Times Mar. n.p.: Having regained his freedom he again made good use of his locomotives [F&H].

2. a winter drink made of Burgundy, curaçao, egg yolks, honey and cloves all heated together.

1872		Donaldsville Chief (LA) 7 Sept. 1/2: The names of the drinks most in vogue [...] yard of flannel, locomotive, corpse reviver [...].
1878		A. Lloyd ‘The American Drinks’ in Comic Songs 13: There’s stone-fence, a rattlesnake, a renovator, locomotive, Pick-me-up.
1888		Sheffield Eve. Teleg. 14 July 2/2: In a book [...] ‘American and Other Drinks’ we find [...] the ‘Flash of Lightning,’ the ‘Nerver,’ the ‘Livener,’ and the ‘Locomotive’.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1916		El Paso Herald (TX) 8 July 32/7: The elaborate list of American drinks [...] a ‘Corpse Reviver’, a ‘Hot Locomotive’.

3. (orig. US campus) ‘a cheer characterized by a slow beginning and a progressive increase in speed and used esp. at school and college sports events’ (Webster 1966) [SE since the 1960s].

1901		Princeton Alumni Weekly 131/2: But he saw you trying to join in a locomotive cheer last Saturday .
1907		Princeton Alumni Weekly 321/2: The boys gave a rousing locomotive and then stood in silence .
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 20: We all had to stand up in the grandstand and give him a locomotive – that’s a cheer.