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Brake   /breɪk/   Listen
noun
Brake  n.  
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." "He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone."
Cane brake, a thicket of canes. See Canebrake.



Brake  n.  
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.
4.
A sharp bit or snaffle. "Pampered jades... which need nor break nor bit."
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."
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.
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.



verb
Brake  v.  Imp. of Break. (Arhaic)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Brake" Quotes from Famous Books



... horse powers at the brake, the motion of the engine was remarkably uniform; not the least diminution of speed in passing the centers could be detected, illustrating very satisfactorily the value, in this respect, of the speed employed, and of the action of the ...
— Scientific American, Volume XXIV., No. 12, March 18, 1871 • Various

... then the falling of our bed, that brake This morning, burden'd with the populous weight, Of our expecting clients, to salute us; Or running of the cat betwixt our legs, As we set forth unto the Capitol, ...
— Sejanus: His Fall • Ben Jonson

... melastomas, balsams, pothos plants, peppers, and gigantic climbing vines and orchids, were intermixed with speedwell, common bramble, forget-me-not, and stinging-nettles, just such as might have been met with in a European field! Tree ferns were seen rising up and towering high above the common brake-fern of the English moors; while the wild strawberry of Britain was seen covering the ground in patches of large extent. Its fruit, however, in the Himalayas is quite insipid, but a fine yellow raspberry—one of the most luscious fruits met with in these ...
— The Plant Hunters - Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains • Mayne Reid

... none, for that which was ours King Poseidon brake, driving it on a jutting rock on this coast, and we whom thou seest are all that are ...
— The Story Of The Odyssey • The Rev. Alfred J. Church

... across. He got his foot upon the side of the car and made his way along, holding the top of the block, while the dust rolled about him and he thought he would be jolted off. Indeed, there was only an inch-wide ledge of smooth iron to support his foot, which slipped once or twice; but he reached the brake-gear and screwed it down. Then, crawling back, he hooked on the spare coupling and returned, breathless and shaky, to his engine. A minute or two later he brought it to a stop and had got down upon the line ...
— Brandon of the Engineers • Harold Bindloss


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