brakesman
(ˈbreɪksmən)
Also brakeman, breaksman.
[In sense 1, f. brake n.4 + man; in sense 2, referred to brake n.7; for the form cf. craftsman, marksman, sportsman.]
1. In Coal-mining: see quot.
| 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 10 Brakesman, the engineman who attends to the winding machine. 1866 Jevons Coal Quest. (ed. 2) 258 George Stephenson was brakesman to the fixed engine. |
2. The man in charge of the brake-apparatus of a railway train.
| 1833 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. II. 738/1 Two brakemen $450 00. 1838 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. I. 388/1 The engine was thrown off the line..and the ‘breakman’ so dreadfully injured that his life is despaired of. 1861 Olmsted Cotton Kingd. I. 161 A brakeman told me this delay was not very unusual. 1865 Morn. Star 1 Feb., At the time of the accident he had been employed as a breaksman about three weeks. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 212/2 The brakeman bawled out, ‘Tannery Town!’ 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Mar. 1/5 Mr. Murdock asserted that $5.12 was not too much for a railway brakeman for an eight-hour day or a run of 100 miles. 1967 Boston Herald 1 Apr. 1/3 Railroad conductors and brakemen were barred Friday from proceeding with a nationwide railroad strike. |