"jaws of life" meaning in English

See jaws of life in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: By analogy with an actual jaw and the fact that this mechanical device allows the possibility of preserving the life of the victim being rescued. Head templates: {{en-noun|p}} jaws of life pl (plural only)
  1. (firefighting) Emergency rescue equipment used to open a severely damaged passenger vehicle with a strong mechanical jaw function that forcibly pushes or pulls metal components apart, to quickly and somewhat safely extricate the trapped occupants. Wikipedia link: jaws of life Tags: plural, plural-only Categories (topical): Firefighting Translations (emergency rescue equipment): szczęki życia [feminine, plural] (Polish), mandíbulas de la vida [feminine] (Spanish), quijadas de la vida [feminine, plural] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-jaws_of_life-en-noun-tSisjofa Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English pluralia tantum Topics: firefighting, government

Download JSON data for jaws of life meaning in English (2.8kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "By analogy with an actual jaw and the fact that this mechanical device allows the possibility of preserving the life of the victim being rescued.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "jaws of life pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Firefighting",
          "orig": "en:Firefighting",
          "parents": [
            "Emergency services",
            "Fire",
            "Public safety",
            "Combustion",
            "Light sources",
            "Public administration",
            "Security",
            "Chemical processes",
            "Light",
            "Government",
            "Society",
            "Nature",
            "Energy",
            "Politics",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "2005, Mary Gordon, Pearl\nIsn't there some machine used in car wrecks to extricate people called the jaws of life?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Chuck McCann, Short, Shorter and Shorter Stories, Volume 1, page 388",
          "text": "The power of the “jaws of life” were shown first and set aside."
        },
        {
          "text": "2009, Tony Evans, Tony Evan's Book of Illustrations\nEven when drivers have had wrecks through no one's fault but their own, rescue crews still employ the \"jaws of life\" to get them out of trouble."
        },
        {
          "text": "For the most terrible of car accidents, jaws of life have to be used to extricate the injured."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Emergency rescue equipment used to open a severely damaged passenger vehicle with a strong mechanical jaw function that forcibly pushes or pulls metal components apart, to quickly and somewhat safely extricate the trapped occupants."
      ],
      "id": "en-jaws_of_life-en-noun-tSisjofa",
      "links": [
        [
          "firefighting",
          "firefighting"
        ],
        [
          "rescue",
          "rescue"
        ],
        [
          "equipment",
          "equipment"
        ],
        [
          "vehicle",
          "vehicle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(firefighting) Emergency rescue equipment used to open a severely damaged passenger vehicle with a strong mechanical jaw function that forcibly pushes or pulls metal components apart, to quickly and somewhat safely extricate the trapped occupants."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "firefighting",
        "government"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "emergency rescue equipment",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "szczęki życia"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "emergency rescue equipment",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "mandíbulas de la vida"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "emergency rescue equipment",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "quijadas de la vida"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "jaws of life"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "jaws of life"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "By analogy with an actual jaw and the fact that this mechanical device allows the possibility of preserving the life of the victim being rescued.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "jaws of life pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English pluralia tantum",
        "en:Firefighting"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "2005, Mary Gordon, Pearl\nIsn't there some machine used in car wrecks to extricate people called the jaws of life?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Chuck McCann, Short, Shorter and Shorter Stories, Volume 1, page 388",
          "text": "The power of the “jaws of life” were shown first and set aside."
        },
        {
          "text": "2009, Tony Evans, Tony Evan's Book of Illustrations\nEven when drivers have had wrecks through no one's fault but their own, rescue crews still employ the \"jaws of life\" to get them out of trouble."
        },
        {
          "text": "For the most terrible of car accidents, jaws of life have to be used to extricate the injured."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Emergency rescue equipment used to open a severely damaged passenger vehicle with a strong mechanical jaw function that forcibly pushes or pulls metal components apart, to quickly and somewhat safely extricate the trapped occupants."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "firefighting",
          "firefighting"
        ],
        [
          "rescue",
          "rescue"
        ],
        [
          "equipment",
          "equipment"
        ],
        [
          "vehicle",
          "vehicle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(firefighting) Emergency rescue equipment used to open a severely damaged passenger vehicle with a strong mechanical jaw function that forcibly pushes or pulls metal components apart, to quickly and somewhat safely extricate the trapped occupants."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "firefighting",
        "government"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "jaws of life"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "emergency rescue equipment",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "szczęki życia"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "emergency rescue equipment",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "mandíbulas de la vida"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "emergency rescue equipment",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "quijadas de la vida"
    }
  ],
  "word": "jaws of life"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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