switchback

[ swich-bak ]

/ ˈswɪtʃˌbæk /

a highway, as in a mountainous area, having many hairpin curves.

Railroads. a zigzag track arrangement for climbing a steep grade.

British. roller coaster.

(of a road, railroad track, etc.) to progress through a series of hairpin curves; zigzag: The road switchbacks up the mountain.

Origin of switchback

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; switch + back²

All agreed that they ought not to leave the Prater before going for a ride on the switchback.

The Road to the Open |Arthur Schnitzler
Three thousand feet that switchback went straight up in the air.

Tenting To-night |Mary Roberts Rinehart
The boy sat silent for a while, making a kind of switchback with his napkin-ring and the bread-knife.

Under Padlock and Seal |Charles Harold Avery
But he was a strong horse, and on a trail up a switchback—do you know what a switchback is?

Through Glacier Park |Mary Roberts Rinehart

The switchback plunges downward in its mad race to the abyssthe end is near.

Marie Tarnowska |Annie Vivanti

switchback

/ (ˈswɪtʃˌbæk) /

a mountain road, railway, or track which rises and falls sharply many times or a sharp rise and fall on such a road, railway, or track

another word (esp Brit) for big dipper