Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

single-acting

American  
[sing-guhl-ak-ting] / ˈsɪŋ gəlˈæk tɪŋ /

adjective

  1. (of a reciprocating engine, pump, etc.) having pistons accomplishing work only in one direction.


single-acting British  

adjective

  1. (of a reciprocating engine or pump) having a piston or pistons that are pressurized on one side only Compare double-acting

"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

Etymology

Origin of single-acting

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The conclusion: With technology accelerating at a pace faster than that of birth years, we cannot simply package vast age groups and label them as single-acting cohorts.

From Forbes

In large, single-acting gas-engines, a considerable displacement of air is thus produced.

From Project Gutenberg

This is particularly true of the single-acting engines so widely used for horse-powers less than 100 to 150.

From Project Gutenberg

The English Westinghouse Co. have also designed large gas engines, and they exhibited a very interesting vertical multiple cylinder gas engine having four cranks and eight single-acting cylinders, four pairs, in tandem, at the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908; it gave 750 h.p., and the pistons were not watered.

From Project Gutenberg

The important epochs in the invention of pumps, ending with the 18th century, were thus the single-acting pump of Ctesibius, 225 B. C., the double-acting of La Hire in 1718, the hydraulic ram of Whitehurst, 1772, and the hydraulic press of Bramah of 1795-1802.

From Project Gutenberg