switchbacks

Noun

switchback (plural switchbacks)

1. (attributive, figuratively, often) A railway track on a steep slope in a zigzag formation, in which a train travels in a reverse direction at each switch.
   • "Of course," said Harry, "there will have to be a branch track built, and a ‘switch-back’ up the hill."1873, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Charles Dudley Warner, chapter XLIX, in The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, published 1874, →OCLC...
2. (attributive, figuratively, often) A railway track on which there are steep ascents and descents, a train moving partially or fully by the force of gravity using the momentum generated when descending to travel up an ascending part of the track; especially (UK, dated), such a track built for fun rides at an amusement park; a type of rollercoaster.
   • The WR faction claims that the Westbury route is better adapted to high speed, to which advocates of the SR route are apt to retort that the effect of modern diesel traction on schedules over the Salisbury–Exeter switchback has yet to be measured (the speed potential between Waterloo and Salisbury...1964 March, “News and comment: Which way to the west?”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, page 147
3. (attributive, broadly, figuratively, often) A flight path consisting of a series of steep ascents and descents, generally flown as a stunt.
4. (UK, attributive, broadly, figuratively, often) A path or road having a series of steep ascents and descents.
   • The switchback road to Diabaig - pronounced 'Jer-vague' - passes through some of the most exhilarating scenery in Scotland. […] With a final swoop, the road plummets down into Diabaig, where cottages are dotted across the slopes of a rocky semi-circle.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 151
5. (Canada, US, attributive, broadly, figuratively, often) A sharp bend in a path or road which causes a traveller to almost reverse their direction of travel, especially one of a series of such bends on an incline; a hairpin bend; also a path or road having such a series of bends.
   • Already, we enter some airport bathrooms through a brief switchback of walls, so that we don’t ever grasp a door handle.2019 April 25, Samanth Subramanian, “Hand dryers v paper towels: the surprisingly dirty fight for the right to dry your hands”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News &...

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