brakeman en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree English brake Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English brakeman From brake + -man.
Meanings
- (US) A railroad employee responsible for a train's brakes, couplings etc.
-
(historical) A person employed to work the steam engine or other machinery that raises the coal from the mine.
Cavendish was clearly an extraordinary man, fortunate enough to be born to a family of extraordinary means. If his father had been a brakeman or a miner, one of the greatest scientists in history might have ended up on a ward at the Bethlem Royal Hospital (commonly known as “Bedlam”), enduring the regimen of cold baths in vogue for the treatment of “withdrawn” patients at the time.
2015, Steve Silberman, chapter 1, in Megan Newman, editor, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York: Avery, →ISBN, page 34:
- A person who pulls the brake lever in the sport of bobsleigh.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| brakemen | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
Translations (6)
de Bremser (railroad employee) · cs brzdař (railroad employee) · es guardafrenos (railroad employee) · fr garde-frein (railroad employee) · ca guardafrens (railroad employee) · pt guarda-freio (railroad employee)