knife switch

American  

noun

Electricity.

1. a form of air switch in which a moving element, usually a hinged blade, is placed between two contact clips.

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knife switch British  

noun

1. an electric switch in which a flat metal blade, hinged at one end, is pushed between fixed contacts

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Etymology

Origin of knife switch

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

One of the main switches for the reactor at Obninsk is a double-pole, single-throw knife switch, a device that now turns up in the U.S. only in the laboratory scenes of Frankenstein movies.

From Time Magazine Archive

A double-throw knife switch in the cab controls the headlight.

From The Traveling Engineers' Association To Improve The Locomotive Engine Service of American Railroads by Anonymous

My hair was drying out, and starting to raise skywards, and the guy who thought he was Nicola Tesla went over to his apparatus and flipped a giant knife switch.

From Home Again, Home Again by Doctorow, Cory

I had bought a large knife switch which could be turned over to connect the aerial to ground.

From The Dawn of Amateur Radio in the U.K. and Greece: a personal view by Joly, Norman F.

Then, as he proved them for the last time, his hand went slowly to the small knife switch upon the box at his elbow.

From The Ultimate Experiment by DeKy, Thornton