emergency brake

American

noun

Also called parking brake. a special brake used to prevent a motor vehicle from rolling after it has stopped or been parked.
any brake meant to stop a vehicle in an emergency.

Etymology

Origin of emergency brake

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Identifying these risks is a net gain to the world, not a disaster, not a reason to pull the emergency brake on AI.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

Doncic’s 45 points came from the wild array of skills he possesses — deep threes, drives where he pulled the emergency brake for a pull-up jumper and trips to the line thanks to his physicality.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2025

When he was 18m from the crossing, the driver applied the emergency brake, which caused a warning horn to sound.

From BBC • Aug. 24, 2023

In the Fort Totten crash, the system didn’t detect the parked train, and an operator onboard the moving train was unable to hit an emergency brake in time.

From Washington Post • Mar. 6, 2023

Quickly, Leeman pulled the emergency brake, halting the train.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023