preventer

American  

[pri-ven-ter] / prɪˈvɛn tər /

noun

preventers plural

1. a person or thing that prevents.

2. Nautical.

   1. any of various lines set up to reinforce or relieve ordinary running or standing rigging.

   2. a line for preventing a sail from jibbing.

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preventer British  

/ prɪˈvɛntə /

noun

1. a person or thing that prevents

2. nautical a rope or other piece of gear rigged to prevent a sail from gybing

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• preventers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of preventer

First recorded in 1580–90; prevent + -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

preventer preventers

A diligent plumber will also calculate the pressure loss from the height of the bathroom above the water meter, the pressure loss through the water meter, a backflow preventer and any other pressure regulators.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2024

The blowout preventer was supposed to be the last-ditch defense against high-pressure gas and oil bursting out of the well.

From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2016

We see the massive blowout preventer on the sea floor, which is rumbling and bubbling and being ominous.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 29, 2016

A blowout preventer, which hadn’t been serviced for nine years, failed to close.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2016

I have strong suspicions that this circumstance acted as a powerful "preventer stay" to my virtue, and enabled me to put the devil to flight on this trying occasion.

From A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken by Order of His Highness Mehemmed Ali Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, By An American In The Service Of The Viceroy by English, George Bethune

They require that remotely operated underwater vehicles be capable of opening and closing key components of blowout preventers.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 22, 2023

Another would require blowout preventers — the equipment that failed in 2010 — to always be able to handle the well’s maximum gas flow specifications.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 12, 2022

But Sunday’s press conference shows that, through flattery and fear, he can be prevented from preventing the actual preventers from doing prevention.

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2020

We hear of kill lines, blowout preventers, negative pressure tests, and something called the bladder effect, which I would rather not know about.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 30, 2016

He had made the men lash the topmast and topgallant-mast to the fragment left of the original spar, securing it with back-stays and preventers on the port and starboard sides before getting up the shrouds.

From The White Squall A Story of the Sargasso Sea by Schonberg, J.