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.

---

Etymology

Origin of make-and-break

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

make-and-break

Besides this the make-and-break contacts on which the, ordinary battery bell depends for its operation are an objectionable feature from the standpoint of maintenance.

From Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. by Kempster Miller

If no spark is produced at the plug or at the make-and-break device it may be inferred that the wires are broken or that the generating apparatus is out of order.

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 R. E. Mathot

Both the high-tension spark plug and low-tension make-and-break systems had been in wide use for many years, with the latter constituting the majority in 1902.

From The Wright Brothers' Engines and Their Design by Leonard S. Hobbs

Spring-loaded sliding pinion drives make-and-break shaft 38 through peg in inclined slot 39.40.

From The Wright Brothers' Engines and Their Design by Leonard S. Hobbs

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 Thomas Clarity