ball cock

or ballcock

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noun

a device for regulating the supply of water in a tank, cistern, or the like, consisting essentially of a valve connected to a hollow floating ball which by its rise or fall shuts or opens the valve.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of ball cock

First recorded in 1780–90

Words nearby ball cock

ballbreaker, ball-buster, ball-carrier, ball clay, ball club, ball cock, ball control, balled-and-burlapped, baller, ballerina, Ballesteros

How to use ball cock in a sentence

It should have a large evaporating vessel, with a ball-cock to supply it.
Lectures on Ventilation|Lewis W. Leeds
On top of the generator is a tipping water-bucket I supplied with water through a ball cock.
Acetylene, The Principles Of Its Generation And Use|F. H. Leeds
In the larger sizes the tank is automatically refilled from a water service through a ball-cock.
Acetylene, The Principles Of Its Generation And Use|F. H. Leeds
A tank situated in the roof, and fed from the main by a ball-cock valve, communicates with A through the siphon pipe S.
How it Works|Archibald Williams

This cistern is fitted with a ball-cock, by which arrangement the liquid can be drawn off by a system of wooden pipes as required.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II|Arnold Cooley

British Dictionary definitions for ball cock

ball cock

noun

a device for regulating the flow of a liquid into a tank, cistern, etc, consisting of a floating ball mounted at one end of an arm and a valve on the other end that opens and closes as the ball falls and rises with the water level in the cistern

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012