make-and-break

American  

[meyk-uhn-breyk] / ˈmeɪk ənˈbreɪk /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to a device, operated by an electric current, for automatically opening or closing a circuit once it has been closed or opened by a mechanical springlike device, as in a doorbell.

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Etymology

Origin of make-and-break

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

make-and-break

A good old-fashioned make-and-break motor for mine after this—one you can depend on.”

From The Motor Girls on Crystal Bay or, The Secret of the Red Oar by Penrose, Margaret

Two types of make-and-break connection are used, the common "buzzer" operated by the magnetism of the core in the coil and the mercury break operated by a small motor.

From The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 700 Things for Boys to Do by Popular Mechanics Co.

The same method of inspection is adopted with the make-and-break apparatus of an electric magneto.

From Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants A Practice Treatise Setting Forth the Principles of Gas-Engines and Producer Design, the Selection and Installation of an Engine, Conditions of Perfect Operation, Producer-Gas Engines and Their Possibilities, the Care of Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants, with a Chapter on Volatile Hydrocarbon and Oil Engines by Mathot, R. E.

I was going to file a nick in the make-and-break business but they’re too foxy to give me a file.

From Tom Slade on a Transport by Clarity, Thomas

Bell's patent of 1876 was of an all-embracing character, which only the make-and-break principle, if practical, could have escaped.

From Edison, His Life and Inventions by Dyer, Frank Lewis