MEANING
A mechanism in which a circular pinion meshes with a straight toothed rack to convert between rotary and linear motion.
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Words that belong together
- rack-and-pinion steering
- a rack-and-pinion drive
On the page
The rack-and-pinion drive pulled the barrier across its track.
Damaged teeth made the rack and pinion hesitate at the same position.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- rack and pinion
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Usage notes
Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Mechanism name; plural rack-and-pinion mechanisms when countable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.
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