- a flat bar on a machine such as a bicycle, car, etc. that you push down with your foot in order to make parts of the machine move or work
- I couldn't reach the pedals on her bike.
- She pressed her foot down sharply on the brake pedal.
- a pedal boat (= one driven by pedals)
Extra ExamplesTopics Transport by car or lorryc1- Her foot was working the pedal of the sewing machine.
- To stop the machine push the foot pedal.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- accelerator
- brake
- clutch
- …
- depress
- press
- push
- …
- control something
- operate something
- boat
- car
- cycle
- …
- on a/the pedal
- a bar on a musical instrument such as a piano or an organ that you push with your foot in order to control the sound
- The soft pedal is placed leftmost in the row of pedals.
- Some guitar players tend to overuse the wah pedal.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- accelerator
- brake
- clutch
- …
- depress
- press
- push
- …
- control something
- operate something
- boat
- car
- cycle
- …
- on a/the pedal
Word Originearly 17th cent. (denoting a foot-operated lever of an organ): from French pédale, from Italian pedale, from Latin pedalis ‘a foot in length’, from pes, ped- ‘foot’.
Idioms
See pedal in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryput the pedal to the metal
(also with the pedal to the metal)
(North American English, informal)- (to go) at full speed; (to drive) with the accelerator of the car pressed to the floor
- We drove through the night flat-out, with the pedal to the metal.
- to use as much effort as possible; with as much effort as possible
- I'm still putting the pedal to the metal here at work.
Check pronunciation:
pedal