Definition of "piggyback" [piggyback]

• On the shoulders or back: ride piggyback; a piggyback ride. (adverb)
• By or relating to a method of transportation in which truck trailers are carried on trains, or cars on specially designed trucks. (adverb)
• In connection with something larger or more important: a tariff provision that came piggyback with the tax bill; a piggyback provision to a new piece of legislation. (adverb)
• The act of transporting piggyback. (noun)
• To cause to be aligned with an issue, for example, that is larger or more important: "a $21.5-million federal grant to piggyback city and state subsidies” ( New York). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Some terms piggyback off of older technologies, some re-define pre-existing words."
• "Such projects, called piggyback or hosted payloads, have been gaining prominence as a relatively fast and inexpensive way to meet fast-growing demands for bandwidth from the Pentagon and other U.S. and foreign governmental agencies."
• "Or you can take out a second loan, known as a piggyback, with a higher rate."