bucket brigade

American  

noun

1. a line of persons formed to extinguish a fire by passing on buckets of water quickly from a distant source.

2. any group of persons who cooperate to help cope with an emergency.

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Etymology

Origin of bucket brigade

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

“It was like a bucket brigade: a truck on one side, a truck on the other,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025

Everyone on board the Araon pitched in, forming a bucket brigade to move more than 100 ice core boxes to the ship freezer.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 18, 2024

Kim stood in the middle of a bucket brigade passing cardboard boxes full of chips to another student volunteer.

From Washington Post • Apr. 7, 2023

On the beach, the long chain of rock passers looks like an old-timey bucket brigade for fighting a fire.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 3, 2022

Still, without planning or discussion, as more and more neighbors arrived, a bucket brigade had begun.

From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper