stopcock

«stopcock» in Mova's school dictionary: a tap or valve on a water pipe that you turn to stop or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a stopcock, stopcocks)

meaning for a pupil

A stopcock is a tap or valve on a water pipe that you turn to stop or start the flow of water into a house or to part of the plumbing. tree →

sense in the lessons

In home safety lessons, children learn where the stopcock is: if a pipe bursts or a tap will not turn off, an adult turns the stopcock to stop the water and prevent a flood. In the UK and Ireland it is often under the kitchen sink. In science it shows how a valve controls the flow of a liquid. Phrases: «turn off the stopcock», «the main stopcock». In the USA people more often say «shut-off valve».

examples

• Dad turned off the stopcock when the pipe burst. tree →
• The stopcock is under the kitchen sink. tree →
• Do you know where your stopcock is? tree →
• The plumber turned the stopcock before fixing the tap. tree →
• Turn the stopcock clockwise to close it. tree →
• Water poured out until Mum found the stopcock. tree →
• Ask an adult to show you the stopcock in your home. tree →

note

Plural: stopcocks. Mostly British/Irish/Australian English; American: «main water shut-off valve». Usually «turn clockwise to close». It is not a «tap» you drink from.

In the corpora

• If a pipe bursts, tell a grown-up at once; turning off the stopcock or main water valve stops the flood.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «stopcock» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.