slam on the brakes
English
[edit]Verb
[edit]slam on the brakes (third-person singular simple present slams on the brakes, present participle slamming on the brakes, simple past and past participle slammed on the brakes)
- (idiomatic, transitive) To press down hard on the brakes of a vehicle in order to make it stop suddenly.
- 1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:
- Driving 2-6-2 locomotive No. 4771 Green Arrow, Blunt suddenly noticed that the tunnel mouth was silhouetted in a dazzling white glare and that incendiary bombs were showering down in their hundreds, he slammed on all his brakes and brought his train to a stop just inside the tunnel.