Word.ws English Dictionary

retaining valves

retaining valves is the plural of retaining valve.

Meaning of retaining valve

Noun

retaining valve (plural retaining valves)

  1. 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

Questions about retaining valves

What is retaining valves the plural of?
Retaining valves is the plural of retaining valve.

Words near retaining valves in the dictionary

  1. retainest
  2. retaineth
  3. retaining
  4. retaining and explaining
  5. retaining valve
  6. retaining valves
  7. retaining wall
  8. retaining walls
  9. retainings
  10. retainment
  11. retainments

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: retaining valves (page history and authors); 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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “retaining valves.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/retaining_valves. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.