ripcord

3 7.2

A cord you pull to open a parachute or let gas from a balloon

noun
/ˈrɪpˌkɔrd/

: cordón de apertura

As he plummeted through the sky, he pulled the ripcord to release his parachute safely.
pull the ripcord
ripcord on a parachute
grab the ripcord

Examples

Grommet pulls his ripcord.

Fiction book (1991)
I'll pull the ripcord.

The Little Vampire 3D (2017)
This is your main ripcord.

Air Force One (1997)
I yanked hard on the ripcord, and it broke!

Fiction book (1991)
And Baumgartner had to pull the ripcord on his parachute earlier than planned.

Blog text (1)
Ben grabs the end of the RIPCORD attached to the harness.

Fiction book (2001)
Second, grab the ripcord.

Fiction book (1991)
Bodhi reaches out suddenly and pulls Utah's ripcord handle.

Fiction book (1991)
The first skydivers tumbled out of the plane and gyrated madly before pulling their ripcord.

Academic text (2011)
Wolfgang imitates a skydiver pulling an imaginary ripcord.

Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

rope

vsripcord

599 1.0

A thick strong cord made by twisting fibers used for tying or pulling

is a specialized cord pulled to release parachutes or vent gas for safe descent

Surface Forms

ripcord singular

ripcords plural

Morphology

ripcord = rip + cord (transparent) = rip + cord

The compound directly denotes a cord used to rip or pull to release a parachute, so the meaning follows transparently from 'rip' + 'cord'.

Etymology

Ripcord is easy to remember because it joins two simple words: rip meaning 'to tear or pull quickly' and cord meaning 'rope'. So a ripcord is a rope you pull quickly to open a parachute or let air out of a balloon.