stabiliser
part of speech
noun (a stabiliser, stabilisers; US stabilizer)
meaning for a pupil
1) (UK) Stabilisers are the two small extra wheels on the back of a child's bicycle that stop it falling over while you learn to ride (US: training wheels). tree →
2) A stabiliser is any part or device that keeps something steady, such as the fins on a ship or the small horizontal wings at the back of an aeroplane. tree →
3) (food, science) A stabiliser is a substance added to food or chemicals to keep them mixed and stop them changing. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life children learn to ride a bike "without stabilisers". In science and D and T lessons stabilisers keep boats, planes and structures balanced. On food labels, stabilisers are listed among ingredients (for example in ice cream). Phrases: "take off the stabilisers", "ride without stabilisers".
examples
- I learned to ride without stabilisers when I was five. tree →
- Dad took the stabilisers off my bike. tree →
- In America they call stabilisers training wheels. tree →
- Big ships have stabilisers to stop them rolling in waves. tree →
- The ice cream has a stabiliser to keep it smooth. tree →
- The plane's stabiliser helps it fly straight. tree →
- She still needs stabilisers on her bike. tree →
note
UK spelling with s (stabiliser); US with z (stabilizer). Verb: stabilise. Countable: a stabiliser, stabilisers. "Training wheels" is the US and Canadian word for bike stabilisers.
In the corpora
- Stabilisers stop the bike tipping, so you never learn this steering, which is why balance bikes with no pedals teach children faster.
- Stabilisers stop the bike tipping, so children never practise steering into a lean, while balance bikes teach that steering first.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «stabiliser» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.