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petcock

or pet cock

[ pet-kok ]
/ ˈpɛtˌkɒk /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR petcock ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small valve or faucet, as for draining off excess or waste material from the cylinder of a steam engine or an internal-combustion engine.

RELATED WORDS

valve, spigot, hydrant, spout, egress, cock, nozzle, stopcock, bibcock

Nearby words

  1. petard,
  2. petasos,
  3. petasus,
  4. petaurist,
  5. petavius,
  6. pete,
  7. petechia,
  8. petechial,
  9. petechial hemorrhage,
  10. petechiate

Origin of petcock

1860–65; pet, perhaps < French pet (see petard) + cock1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for petcock

  • One crawled in and settled down, and turned the petcock that inflated the cover.

    Space Tug|Murray Leinster
British Dictionary definitions for petcock

petcock

/ (ˈpɛtˌkɒk) /

noun

a small valve for checking the water level in a steam boiler or draining condensed steam from the cylinder of a steam engine

Word Origin for petcock

C19: from pet 1 or perhaps French pet, from péter to break wind + cock 1
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
Word Origin and History for petcock

petcock

n.

also pet-cock, 1864, from cock (n.2); the signification of the first element is uncertain.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper