switchback

[ swich-bak ]

/ ˈswɪtʃˌbæk /

noun

a highway, as in a mountainous area, having many hairpin curves.

Railroads. a zigzag track arrangement for climbing a steep grade.

verb (used without object)

(of a road, railroad track, etc.) to progress through a series of hairpin curves; zigzag: The road switchbacks up the mountain.

Nearby words

Origin of switchback

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; switch + back²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for switchback

All agreed that they ought not to leave the Prater before going for a ride on the switchback.
The Road to the Open|Arthur Schnitzler
Three thousand feet that switchback went straight up in the air.
Tenting To-night|Mary Roberts Rinehart
The boy sat silent for a while, making a kind of switchback with his napkin-ring and the bread-knife.
Under Padlock and Seal|Charles Harold Avery
But he was a strong horse, and on a trail up a switchback—do you know what a switchback is?
Through Glacier Park|Mary Roberts Rinehart

The switchback plunges downward in its mad race to the abyssthe end is near.
Marie Tarnowska|Annie Vivanti

British Dictionary definitions for switchback

switchback

/ (ˈswɪtʃˌbæk) /

noun

a mountain road, railway, or track which rises and falls sharply many times or a sharp rise and fall on such a road, railway, or track

another word (esp Brit) for big dipper

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 switchback

switchback

adj.

reference to zig-zag railways, 1863, from switch (v.) + back (adv.).