Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Brake
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,
To shelter thee from tempest and from rain.
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. , and cf.
brake
; cf. LG. brake
an instrument for breaking flax, G. breche
, fr. the root of E. break
. See Break
, Verb.
T.
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.
BRAKE
,Noun.
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.
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.