make-and-break

American

[meyk-uhn-breyk] / ˈmeɪk ənˈbreɪk /

adjective

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

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

Woods won the 2005 Masters in a playoff against Chris DiMarco, who said recently that if Woods decided to play this year, the tournament would be a “make-and-break week.”

From New York Times

A single-cylinder, air-cooled gasoline motor having mechanically-operated inlet and exhaust valves and a make-and-break igniter, all worked from a single cam, and carrying a small propeller on its crankshaft, was shown on this machine.

From Scientific American

Ignition was make-and-break and the inlet valves were mechanically actuated.

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

The make-and-break system, on the other hand, required for each cylinder what was physically the equivalent of a spark plug, that is, a moving arm and contact point inside the cylinder, a spring-loaded snap mechanism to break the contact outside the cylinder, and a camshaft and cams to actuate the breaker mechanism at the proper time.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023