switchback

1. (rail transport)Examples: ""Of course," said Harry, "there will have to be a branch track built, and a ‘switch-back’ up the hill.""; "Marriage was the switchback, the giant racer, the lobster teas, the guarantee that one would never be alone."attributivefigurativelyoften

2. (rail transport)Examples: "The WR faction claims that the Westbury route is better adapted to high speed, to which advocates of the SR route are apt to retort that the effect of modern diesel traction on schedules over the Salisbury–Exeter switchback has yet to be measured (the speed potential between Waterloo and Salisbury is scarcely disputable) […]"attributivefigurativelyoften

3. (by extension)attributivebroadlyfigurativelyoften

4. (by extension)Examples: "The switchback road to Diabaig - pronounced 'Jer-vague' - passes through some of the most exhilarating scenery in Scotland. […] With a final swoop, the road plummets down into Diabaig, where cottages are dotted across the slopes of a rocky semi-circle."Britishattributivebroadlyfigurativelyoften

5. (by extension)Examples: "Already, we enter some airport bathrooms through a brief switchback of walls, so that we don’t ever grasp a door handle."CanadaUSattributivebroadlyfigurativelyoften