safety-valve

See also: safety valve

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From safety valve (noun).[1]

Verb

safety-valve (third-person singular simple present safety-valves, present participle safety-valving, simple past and past participle safety-valved) (transitive)

  1. Sometimes followed by off:
    1. (transitive) To use a relief valve on (a container holding a gas or vapour) to relieve excessive pressure which has built up inside.
    2. (transitive) To install a relief valve on (such a container) for that purpose.
    3. (transitive, figuratively) To use some mechanism to relieve (physical or emotional pressure or tension).
Alternative forms
Translations

Etymology 2

See safety valve.

Noun

safety-valve (plural safety-valves)

  1. Alternative form of safety valve.
    • 1840, F[rederick] M[arryat], “Diary on the Continent. Chapter XIX.”, in Olla Podrida. […], volume I, London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, […], →OCLC, pages 205–206:
      […] I have often thought that it was a great error in our legislature when they consented to put down the public lotteries in England. I am convinced that they were beneficial, acting as safety-valves to the gambling spirit of the nation, and that their prohibition has been productive of much crime and misery.

References

  1. ^ “safety-valve, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
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