handbrake

British

/ ˈhændˌbreɪk /

noun

a brake operated by a hand lever
the lever that operates the handbrake

"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

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.

For over an hour on Thursday, his team looked like it was playing with the handbrake on against a side ranked 40th in the world, just three places above Scotland.

From BBC • Oct. 10, 2025

Tom Gayle: The time feels right for Fulham to release the handbrake from underneath Josh King.

From BBC • Aug. 13, 2025

A van rolled down a hill and crashed through a railway level crossing barrier after a pet dog chewed through the handbrake cable, according to its owner.

From BBC • Jul. 10, 2025

"Everybody seems to have put the handbrake on," he said.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2025

Otto squeezed his handbrake and fishtailed his back tire so he now faced the direction from which they’d come.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023