Westinghousen.
/ˈwɛstɪŋhaʊs/, U.S. /ˈwɛstɪŋˌ(h)aʊs/ Now historical.
attributive. A proprietary name for: a kind of air brake invented for use on railway trains, operated by compressed air on a fail-safe principle. Also absol. (rare).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [adjective] > having no or spec. type of brake > specific type of brake
unlockable1854
Westinghouse1870
overrun1959
1870 Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engin. Mag. 3 328/1 The Westinghouse brake perfectly meets the requirements of every-day trains.
1874 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 67 365 Two important trials of the Westinghouse Air-brake have recently taken place in England.
1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Nov. 738/3 Many will regret the gradual abandonment of the Westinghouse brake on steam-hauled trains.
1949 D. M. Davin Roads from Home i. v. 75 I jammed on the Westinghouse, saying to myself I'd look a fine bloody fool if I'd stopped the train for nothing.
1990 G. W. Hilton Amer. Narrow Gauge Railroads iv. 187 The Denver & Rio Grande was an early user of the Westinghouse air brake..and many other narrow gauges used it.
2006 M. Aldrich Death Rode Rails 30 The Westinghouse brake and Miller's platform were complementary safety innovations.
Derivatives
ˌWestingˈhousian adj. rare suggestive of the application of air brakes; relating to a Westinghouse electrical company.
ΚΠ
1948 V. Nabokov in New Yorker 31 July 20/1 The train stopped with a long-drawn Westinghousian sigh.
2007 P. F. Schewe Grid v. 126 When all that Westinghousian alternating-current power was withdrawn..there was bound to be industrial trouble.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1870