brake

noun

1. A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.

   “She slammed the brakes when she saw a child run in front of the car.”

   “You’re pressing the brakes too hard—try just squeezing them.”

   “Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.”

2. A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.

   “Give the car a quick brake.”

3. A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.
4. (figuratively)A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.
5. An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
6. (obsolete)An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
7. The handle of a pump.
8. A baker’s kneading trough.

   “You shall kneade[…]first with handes‥lastly with the brake.”

9. A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
10. A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.

    “He was shooting, and the field where the [cock-fighting] ring was verged on the shooting-brake where the rabbits were.”

11. A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
12. A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.

    “It had been arranged as part of the day’s programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake.”

    “A few moments later they heard the sound of an engine, and a muddy shooting brake appeared on the road behind them.”

13. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
14. (countable, uncountable)Certain ferns, including
15. (countable, uncountable)Certain ferns, including
16. A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.

    “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.”

    “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 […]”

    “The bird, with its fellow in the break, drummed, and whirred, and to the misfortune of its species made its plumage seem a prize to them.”

17. A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)
18. A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth after ploughing; a drag.
19. A tool used for breaking flax or hemp.
20. (obsolete)A cage.
21. (historical)A type of torture instrument.

    “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.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To operate a brake or brakes.

   “Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.”

2. (intransitive)To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.
3. (transitive)To bruise and crush; to knead.

   “The farmer’s son brakes the flax while mother brakes the bread dough”

4. (transitive)To pulverise with a harrow.
5. (archaic, form-of, past)simple past of break

   “And all the people brake off the golden earrings […]”

name

1. A surname.