tripcock
tripcock noun: a train-mounted safety device which interacts with a trackside device to stop a train automatically if it passes a signal at danger (showing a red light).
Noun
tripcock (plural tripcocks)
- A train-mounted safety device which interacts with a trackside device to stop a train automatically if it passes a signal at danger (showing a red light).
- When a train runs onto the track, thus connecting the two rails, a short circuit is created, the current drops out and the signal switched to red. The system operates in conjunction with a lever on the tracks. If a train should pass a red light, the lever, which is called a tripcock, comes into...2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 136–137
- Chiltern Class 165s are fitted with tripcocks to allow them to operate on LU infrastructure between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham.2020 July 1, Richard Clinnick, “Network News: '165' runs through points and into path of LU service”, in Rail, page 20
Forms of tripcock
| plural | tripcocks |
|---|
Origin of tripcock
From trip + cock.
Questions about tripcock
- What does tripcock mean?
- Tripcock means a train-mounted safety device which interacts with a trackside device to stop a train automatically if it passes a signal at danger (showing a red light).
- What part of speech is tripcock?
- Tripcock is a noun.
- What is the plural of tripcock?
- The plural of tripcock is tripcocks.
Words near tripcock in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tripcock (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: “tripcock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tripcock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.