Word.ws English Dictionary

breakdown cranes

breakdown cranes is the plural of breakdown crane.

Meaning of breakdown crane

Noun

breakdown crane (plural breakdown cranes)

  1. (UK) A crane that can be used in the event of accidents and derailments, as well as for engineering work on the railway; the crane is usually coupled to another vehicle on which the jib can be rested when travelling, or when the crane is not in use.
    • There are meetings to attend in connection with engineering work, such as bridge construction, where the use of the motive power breakdown crane is needed, or a meeting with contractors working adjacent to the railway who wish to hire the crane.1960 April, A. W. Bennett, “A Locomotive Shedmaster's Day”, in Railway Magazine, page 272

Questions about breakdown cranes

What is breakdown cranes the plural of?
Breakdown cranes is the plural of breakdown crane.

Words near breakdown cranes in the dictionary

  1. breakdancers
  2. breakdances
  3. breakdancing
  4. breakdown
  5. breakdown crane
  6. breakdown cranes
  7. breakdown lane
  8. breakdown lanes
  9. breakdown lorries
  10. breakdown lorry
  11. breakdown point

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breakdown cranes (page history and authors); breakdown crane (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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