a rope or other piece of gear rigged to prevent a sail from gybing
preventer in American English
(prɪˈventər)
noun
1.
a person or thing that prevents
2. Nautical
a.
any of various lines set up to reinforce or relieve ordinary running or standing rigging
b.
a line for preventing a sail from jibbing
Word origin
[1580–90; prevent + -er1]This word is first recorded in the period 1580–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: academic, cockpit, humanist, motor, scramble-er is a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupationor labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance(six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner)
Examples of 'preventer' in a sentence
preventer
The trick is to take your preventer inhalers regularly.
The Sun (2013)
If so, treatment should be simple with reliever and preventer inhalers.
The Sun (2016)
Survivors testified that they tried to activate the preventer but it did not respond.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The preventer, in particular, won't do the job unless you use it regularly.