emergency cord
Americannoun
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emergency cords
plural
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a cord in a public transit vehicle that passengers can pull to alert the driver or stop the vehicle in an emergency.
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any cord that can be pulled in an extreme or dangerous situation to call for help, disengage a mechanism, or otherwise make a situation safer.
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a way to get out of or reduce the impact of a difficult situation.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Another said: "At birth I wasn't checked for two hours. I went to the toilet and rang the emergency cord - I gave birth in the toilet cubicle."
From BBC ● May 12, 2025
It still takes monthly re-upping, for one thing, and for another, there’s a risk in pulling the emergency cord too much.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
It’s difficult to read about the opportunity for escape offered by the train’s emergency cord without thinking of another thread running through Plath’s life.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 26, 2018
Or the red thread marking a flight path in 1945 comes back as the emergency cord dangling from the ceiling of the retirement home Teddy has moved to in 1993.
From Slate ● May 8, 2015
From the other end of the car, I heard the porter shout and I looked up to see him yanking the emergency cord that run along the baggage rail.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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.
