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Webster 1913 Edition

Brake

Brake

(brāk)
,
imp.
of
Break
.
[Arhaic]
Tennyson.

Brake

,
Noun.
[OE.
brake
fern; cf. AS.
bracce
fern, LG.
brake
willow bush, Da.
bregne
fern, G.
brach
fallow; prob. orig. the growth on rough, broken ground, fr. the root of E.
break
. See
Break
,
Verb.
T.
, cf.
Bracken
, and 2d
Brake
,
Noun.
]
1.
(Bot.)
A fern of the genus
Pteris
, esp. the
Pteris aquilina
, common in almost all countries. It has solitary stems dividing into three principal branches. Less properly: Any fern.
2.
A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles, with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes.
Rounds rising hillocks,
brakes
obscure and rough,
To shelter thee from tempest and from rain.
Shakespeare
He stayed not for
brake
,
and he stopped not for stone
.
Sir W. Scott.
Cane brake
,
a thicket of canes. See
Canebrake
.

Brake

(brāk)
,
Noun.
[OE.
brake
; cf. LG.
brake
an instrument for breaking flax, G.
breche
, fr. the root of E.
break
. See
Break
,
Verb.
T.
, and cf.
Breach
.]
1.
An instrument or machine to break or bruise the woody part of flax or hemp so that it may be separated from the fiber.
2.
An extended handle by means of which a number of men can unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine.
3.
A baker’s kneading though.
Johnson.
4.
A sharp bit or snaffle.
Pampered jades . . . which need nor
break
nor bit.
Gascoigne.
5.
A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him; also, an inclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
A horse . . . which Philip had bought . . . and because of his fierceness kept him within a
brake
of iron bars.
J. Brende.
6.
That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
7.
(Mil.)
An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
8.
(Agric.)
A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; a drag.
9.
A piece of mechanism for retarding or stopping motion by friction, as of a carriage or railway car, by the pressure of rubbers against the wheels, or of clogs or ratchets against the track or roadway, or of a pivoted lever against a wheel or drum in a machine.
10.
(Engin.)
An apparatus for testing the power of a steam engine, or other motor, by weighing the amount of friction that the motor will overcome; a friction brake.
11.
A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.
12.
An ancient instrument of torture.
Holinshed.
Air brake
.
See
Air brake
, in the Vocabulary.
–
Brake beam
or
Brake bar
,
the beam that connects the brake blocks of opposite wheels.
–
Brake block
.
(a)
The part of a brake holding the brake shoe.
(b)
A brake shoe.
–
Brake shoe
or
Brake rubber
,
the part of a brake against which the wheel rubs.
–
Brake wheel
,
a wheel on the platform or top of a car by which brakes are operated.
–
Continuous brake
.
See under
Continuous
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Brake

BRAKE

,
pp.
of break. [See Break.]

BRAKE

,
Noun.
[L. erica; Gr. to break.]
1.
Brake is a name given to fern, or rather to the female fern, a species of cryptogamian plants, of the genus Pteris, whose fructification is in lines under the margin of the leaf or frond.
2.
A place overgrown with brake.
3.
A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles.
4.
In the U. States, a thicket of canes, as a cane-brake; but I believe used only in composition.

BRAKE

,
Noun.
[See Break.] An instrument to break flax or hemp.
1.
The handle or lever by which a pump is worked; that is, brac, brachium, an arm.
2.
A baker's kneading trough.
3.
A sharp bit, or snaffle.
4.
A machine for confining refractory horses, while the smith is shoeing them.
5.
That part of the carriage of a movable battery or engine which enables it to turn.
6.
A large heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; called also a drag.

Definition 2024

brake

brake

English

Noun

brake ‎(plural brakes)

  1. A fern; bracken. [from 14th c.]

Translations

Etymology 2

Compare Middle Low German brake.

Noun

brake ‎(plural brakes)

  1. A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc. [from 15th c.]
    • 1807, William Wordsworth, Poems, Fidelity:
      He halts, and searches with his eyes
      Among the scatter'd rocks:
      And now at distance can discern
      A stirring in a brake of fern […]
    • Shakespeare
      Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, / To shelter thee from tempest and from rain.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone.

Etymology 3

From Old Dutch braeke.

Noun

brake ‎(plural brakes)

  1. A tool used for breaking flax or hemp. [from 15th c.]
  2. A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)
  3. A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after ploughing; a drag.
Translations

Verb

brake ‎(third-person singular simple present brakes, present participle braking, simple past and past participle braked)

  1. (transitive) To bruise and crush; to knead
    The farmer's son brakes the flax while mother brakes the bread dough
  2. (transitive) To pulverise with a harrow
Derived terms
  • brakeage
Translations

Etymology 4

Disk brake on a motorcycle.

Origin uncertain.

Noun

brake ‎(plural brakes)

  1. (military) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
    1. (obsolete) The winch of a crossbow. [14th-19th c.]
  2. (chiefly nautical) The handle of a pump.
  3. A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, by friction; also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car. [from 18th c.]
    1. The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle
    2. (engineering) An apparatus for testing the power of a steam engine or other motor by weighing the amount of friction that the motor will overcome; a friction brake.
    3. (figuratively) Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.
  4. A baker's kneading trough.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
  5. A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
    1. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him.
    2. An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
      • 1868, March 7, The Illustrated London News, number 1472, volume 52, “Law and Police”, page 223:
        He was shooting, and the field where the [cock-fighting] ring was verged on the shooting-brake where the rabbits were.
      • J. Brende
        A horse […] which Philip had bought […] and because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of iron bars.
    3. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.W
    4. A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.W
  6. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
Translations
Derived terms
Descendants

Verb

brake ‎(third-person singular simple present brakes, present participle braking, simple past and past participle braked)

  1. (intransitive) To operate (a) brake(s).
  2. (intransitive) To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.
Translations

Etymology 5

Origin uncertain.

Noun

brake ‎(plural brakes)

  1. (obsolete) A cage. [16th-17th c.]
  2. (now historical) A type of torture instrument. [from 16th c.]
    • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 83:
      Methods of applying pain were many and ingenious, in particular the ways of twisting, stretching and manipulating the body out of shape, normally falling under the catch-all term of the rack, or the brakes.

Etymology 6

Inflected forms.

Verb

brake

  1. (archaic) simple past tense of break
    • Exodus 32:3, KJV:
      And all the people brake off the golden earrings […]

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

brake

  1. (archaic) singular past subjunctive of breken
  2. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of braken

Anagrams

Etymology

Apparently a shortened form of bracken. (Compare chick, chicken.)

Pronunciation

  • enPR: brāk, IPA(key): /bɹeɪk/
  • Rhymes: -eɪk
  • Homophone: break

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