cotter pin

American  

noun

Machinery.

1. a cotter having a split end that is spread after being pushed through a hole to prevent it from working loose.

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cotter pin British  

noun

1. a split pin secured, after passing through holes in the parts to be attached, by spreading the ends

2. a tapered pin threaded at the smaller end and secured by a nut after insertion

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Etymology

Origin of cotter pin

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cotter pin

Release the cotter pin from the spindle nut, then remove the nut and washer, and the entire hub should slip off the axle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Theirs is a world in which every boy matures to master small motors, to understand the importance of the cotter pin.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the Mikawa mine on southern Kyushu island, a cotter pin apparently fell out of a coupling on a string of coal cars halted on a slight incline.

From Time Magazine Archive

Serial writers ran out of hazards years ago, have been working switches on them ever since; the loose cotter pin on the stagecoach, for example, has been used an estimated 7,000 times.

From Time Magazine Archive

The only clevis that he could not open was one in which a stout cotter pin was passed through the end of the clevis-pin and strongly bent.

From The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals A Book of Personal Observations by Hornaday, William Temple