hand brake
noun
variants:
or handbrake \ ˈhan(d)-ˌbrāk 
\
\
plural hand brakes
or handbrakes
Definition of hand brake
: an emergency brake operated by a hand lever
The handbrake can help to prevent accidents when the foot brake fails to stop the vehicle during an emergency. — Tech Startups
Examples of hand brake in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Two bicycle-style hand brakes made decelerating dead simple. — Scott Kirsner, BostonGlobe.com, "This could be the Volvo of e-scooters," 8 July 2019 The new hand brake, on the left handlebar, is much like the ones on bikes, and will stop both wheels if pulled. — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, "Lyft introduces pink-wheeled scooter that it says is better for scooter sharing," 14 June 2019 The thumb-lever brake on the first generation scooter has been replaced with a type of hand brake more commonly found on bicycles. — Sean O'kane, The Verge, "Uber’s new shared scooter is bigger, tougher, and stops faster," 12 June 2019 The brakes are completely electronic, unlike some other scooters that also include manual hand brakes or disc brakes. — Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, "Unagi is the $1,190 electric scooter you won’t want to share with anyone," 17 Nov. 2018 At some point, the men tried applying the hand brakes to the rail cars, which destabilized the train and forced the conductors to make an emergency stop, Fox 8 reported. — Scott Berson, charlotteobserver, "Train-hoppers call 911 clinging to locomotive: ‘It’s going really, really fast!’," 12 July 2018 It is known as a bootleg turn or handbrake turn and competition drivers use it to their advantage, knowing precisely when to release the hand brake and accelerate. — Bob Weber, chicagotribune.com, "Remove sap, kill bugs with one fell spray," 30 Oct. 2017 Asked what visitors will do when there is even less snow and winter here becomes more like winter in northern Europe, Green Dog Svalbard guide Starinsky notes that the huskies can also run on roads, pulling carts with wheels and hand brakes. — Andrea Pitzer, Washington Post, "In the deepest Arctic, sled dogs, polar bears and famed seed vault face melting snow and ice," 26 May 2018 On arrival, pick out a bike after squeezing tires and hand brakes. — Chris Erskine, latimes.com, "Taking a green rental bike through DTLA? A tipsheet for first-timers," 10 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hand brake.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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