retaining valve
retaining valve noun: a device that retains some air pressure in a train's air brake cylinders even when the automatic brake valve is set to the fully-released position, used on steep downgrades to allow a degree of continuous braking effort to be maintained without depleting the pressure in the train's brakepipe (which would result in the loss of nearly all braking ability, causing a runaway).
Noun
retaining valve (plural retaining valves)
- A device that retains some air pressure in a train's air brake cylinders even when the automatic brake valve is set to the fully-released position, used on steep downgrades to allow a degree of continuous braking effort to be maintained without depleting the pressure in the train's brakepipe (which would result in the loss of nearly all braking ability, causing a runaway).
- Synonyms:
- retainer
Synonyms of retaining valve
Forms of retaining valve
| plural | retaining valves |
|---|
Questions about retaining valve
- What does retaining valve mean?
- Retaining valve means a device that retains some air pressure in a train's air brake cylinders even when the automatic brake valve is set to the fully-released position, used on steep downgrades to allow a degree of continuous braking effort to be maintained without depleting the pressure in the train's brakepipe (which would result in the loss of nearly all braking ability, causing a runaway).
- What part of speech is retaining valve?
- Retaining valve is a noun.
- What is the plural of retaining valve?
- The plural of retaining valve is retaining valves.
Words near retaining valve in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: retaining valve (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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Cite this entry: “retaining valve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/retaining_valve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.