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signalling

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,743 of 15,258mostly written

Signalling is the system that keeps trains safely apart. Railway signalling, a signalling failure, modern signalling.

The principle is the block: only one train may occupy a section of track at a time, and the signals enforce it. Signalling failure is the commonest cause of delay announced to passengers, and Americans spell it signaling.

William Powell Frith · Public domain

Definitions of signalling

  1. 1nounsignallingThe system that keeps trains safely apart.B2+

    “Trains were delayed all morning because of a signalling fault.”

signalling is a system.

Also accepted in games: signaling

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *sekʷ-

  2. Latin

    signālis

  3. Medieval Latin

    signāle

  4. Old French

    segnal

  5. English

    signal

  6. English, today

    signalling

signal comes from Old French segnal, seignal or Medieval Latin signāle; noun use of the neuter of Latin signālis, from Latin signum; verb use from 1805, as a shortened from signalize (1650s). a doublet of signum and sign.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Railways

Practise this word

signalling in the wild

  • London Underground call them signalling cabins, and the Great Central Railway referred to them as signal cabins.

    Signalling control

  • Whatever the form, signalling control provides an interface between the human signal operator and the lineside signalling equipment.

    Signalling control

  • Railway signalling (British English), or railroad signaling (American English), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic.

    Railway signalling

  • Wayside signalling dates back as far as 1832, and used elevated flags or balls that could be seen from afar.

    Railway signalling

  • Disrupted JAK-STAT signalling may lead to a variety of diseases, such as skin conditions, cancers, and disorders affecting the immune system.

    JAK-STAT signaling pathway

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the segnal family

signal

signalling — used about once every 15,236 pages · #12,743 · point at the bar for the others