brake-van
noun
the caboose of a railway train.
Showing results for brake-van.
Search instead for
brake chain.
brake-van
American
[breyk-van]
/ ˈbreɪkˌvæn /
noun
British.
brake van
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of brake-van
First recorded in 1880–85
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.
See Examples For:
At this crisis I had the luck to come across my friend Inspector Hooper, Cape Government Railways, in command of an engine and a brake-van chalked for repair.
From Traffics and Discoveries by Kipling, Rudyard
It is composed of ten trucks and vans, and has besides a guard's brake-van fitted with a screw-down brake of the usual sort.
From The Harmsworth Magazine, v. 1, 1898-1899, No. 2 by Various
"De Aar," and the Africander guard flung himself out of his brake-van.
From On the Heels of De Wet by James, Lionel
He was about to take his seat again in the carriage when he observed a crowd on the platform opposite the brake-van at the rear end of the train.
From The Monkey That Would Not Kill by Wain, Louis
About Tell el-Kabír, the brake-van also waxed unsafely warm; but it reached Zagázig without developing more caloric.
From The Land of Midian — Volume 2 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
For carriage lighting any ordinary type of generator, preferably, perhaps, fitted with a displacement holder, can be erected either in each corridor carriage, or in a brake van at the end of the train.
From Acetylene, the Principles of Its Generation and Use A Practical Handbook on the Production, Purification, and Subsequent Treatment of Acetylene for the Development of Light, Heat, and Power by Leeds, F. H. (Frank Henley)
By the time that the engine and tender had been uncoupled from the foremost car, the guard had come through the corridors from the brake van to know what had happened.
From Sergeant Silk the Prairie Scout by Leighton, Robert
The battery is carried in a box in the brake van.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 312, December 24, 1881 by Various
He swung a swag on to the platform, shouldered it, pulled out a billy and water-bag, and then went to a dog-box in the brake van.
From While the Billy Boils by Lawson, Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
