brake 1 (br k)n. 1. A device for slowing or stopping motion, as of a vehicle, especially by contact friction. 2. Something that slows or stops action. v. braked, brak·ing, brakes v.tr. To reduce the speed of with or as if with a brake. v.intr. 1. To operate or apply a brake. 2. To be slowed or stopped by or as if by the operation of a brake. [Probably brake, bridle, curb, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German, nose ring, curb, flax brake; see brake2.] |
| brake 2 (brk) n. 1. A toothed device for crushing and beating flax or hemp. 2. A heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth. 3. An apparatus for kneading large amounts of dough. 4. A machine for bending and folding sheet metal. tr.v. braked, brak·ing, brakes 1. To crush (flax or hemp) in a toothed device. 2. To break up (clods of earth) with a harrow. [Middle English, from Middle Dutch, from Middle Low German; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.] |
| brake 3 (brk) n. A lever or handle on a machine such as a pump. [Middle English, from Old French brac, from oblique form of bras, arm; see bracer2.] |
| brake 4 (brk) n. 1. Any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately compound leaves and including several popular houseplants. 2. Any of certain other ferns, such as the bracken or the cliff brake. [Middle English, probably back-formation from braken; see bracken.] |
| brake 5 (brk) n. An area overgrown with dense brushwood, briers, and undergrowth; a thicket. [Middle English, from Middle Low German; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.] |
| brake 6 (brk) n. Variant of break. v. Archaic A past tense of break. |
Translations
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