who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «He was selling very cheap to Wm. Larew, the grocer, when the capture was made, and “lit out for who laid the rail,” but the marshal was a little too spry for him.» —“Chicken Thief Caught” Knoxville Journal (Kentucky) Aug. 4, 1893. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...
Charlotte from Princeton, Kentucky, wonders: What’s the difference between a spider web and a cobweb? There’s a bit of semantic differentiation between the two: A cobweb is usually an old spider web, while a spider web that’s not...