'Brake' definitions:

Definition of 'brake'

From: WordNet
noun
A restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle
noun
Any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately compound leaves and including several popular houseplants
noun
Large coarse fern often several feet high; essentially weed ferns; cosmopolitan [syn: bracken, pasture brake, brake, Pteridium aquilinum]
noun
An area thickly overgrown usually with one kind of plant
noun
Anything that slows or hinders a process; "she wan not ready to put the brakes on her life with a marriage"; "new legislation will put the brakes on spending"
verb
Stop travelling by applying a brake; "We had to brake suddenly when a chicken crossed the road"
verb
Cause to stop by applying the brakes; "brake the car before you go into a curve"

Definition of 'Brake'

From: GCIDE
  • Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. t. [imp. broke (br[=o]k), (Obs. Brake); p. p. Broken (br[=o]"k'n), (Obs. Broke); p. pr. & vb. n. Breaking.] [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS. brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to creak, Sw. braka, br[aum]kka to crack, Dan. br[ae]kke to break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to pound, Breach, Fragile.]
  • 1. To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate. [1913 Webster]
  • Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise. [1913 Webster]
  • Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . . To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray. --Milton [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey. [1913 Webster]
  • Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments. [1913 Webster]
  • The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. --Prescott. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind. [1913 Webster]
  • An old man, broken with the storms of state. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. [1913 Webster]
  • I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 13. To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend. [1913 Webster]
  • 14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle. "To break a colt." --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin. [1913 Webster]
  • With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. [1913 Webster]
  • I see a great officer broken. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: With prepositions or adverbs: [1913 Webster]
  • To break down. (a) To crush; to overwhelm; as, to break down one's strength; to break down opposition. (b) To remove, or open a way through, by breaking; as, to break down a door or wall.
  • To break in. (a) To force in; as, to break in a door. (b) To train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in.
  • To break of, to rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break one of a habit.
  • To break off. (a) To separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig. (b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break off thy sins by righteousness." --Dan. iv. 27.
  • To break open, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I will break it open." --Shak.
  • To break out, to take or force out by breaking; as, to break out a pane of glass.
  • To break out a cargo, to unstow a cargo, so as to unload it easily.
  • To break through. (a) To make an opening through, as, as by violence or the force of gravity; to pass violently through; as, to break through the enemy's lines; to break through the ice. (b) To disregard; as, to break through the ceremony.
  • To break up. (a) To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow ground). "Break up this capon." --Shak. "Break up your fallow ground." --Jer. iv. 3. (b) To dissolve; to put an end to. "Break up the court." --Shak.
  • To break (one) all up, to unsettle or disconcert completely; to upset. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
  • Note: With an immediate object: [1913 Webster]
  • To break the back. (a) To dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally. (b) To get through the worst part of; as, to break the back of a difficult undertaking.
  • To break bulk, to destroy the entirety of a load by removing a portion of it; to begin to unload; also, to transfer in detail, as from boats to cars.
  • To break a code to discover a method to convert coded messages into the original understandable text.
  • To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting concealment, as game when hunted.
  • To break a deer or To break a stag, to cut it up and apportion the parts among those entitled to a share.
  • To break fast, to partake of food after abstinence. See Breakfast.
  • To break ground. (a) To open the earth as for planting; to commence excavation, as for building, siege operations, and the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a canal, or a railroad. (b) Fig.: To begin to execute any plan. (c) (Naut.) To release the anchor from the bottom.
  • To break the heart, to crush or overwhelm (one) with grief.
  • To break a house (Law), to remove or set aside with violence and a felonious intent any part of a house or of the fastenings provided to secure it.
  • To break the ice, to get through first difficulties; to overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a subject.
  • To break jail, to escape from confinement in jail, usually by forcible means.
  • To break a jest, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the livelong day breaks scurril jests." --Shak.
  • To break joints, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc., so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with those in the preceding course.
  • To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest.
  • To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.
  • To break no squares, to create no trouble. [Obs.]
  • To break a path, road, etc., to open a way through obstacles by force or labor.
  • To break upon a wheel, to execute or torture, as a criminal by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his limbs with an iron bar; -- a mode of punishment formerly employed in some countries.
  • To break wind, to give vent to wind from the anus. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Brake'

From: GCIDE
  • Brake \Brake\ (br[=a]k), imp. of Break. [Arhaic] --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Brake'

From: GCIDE
  • Brake \Brake\, n. [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, v. t., cf. Bracken, and 2d Brake, n.] [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles, with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes. [1913 Webster]
  • Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, To shelter thee from tempest and from rain. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]
  • Cane brake, a thicket of canes. See Canebrake. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Brake'

From: GCIDE
  • Brake \Brake\ (br[=a]k), n. [OE. brake; cf. LG. brake an instrument for breaking flax, G. breche, fr. the root of E. break. See Break, v. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. An extended handle by means of which a number of men can unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. A baker's kneading though. --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. A sharp bit or snaffle. [1913 Webster]
  • Pampered jades . . . which need nor break nor bit. --Gascoigne. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him; also, an inclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • A horse . . . which Philip had bought . . . and because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of iron bars. --J. Brende. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. (Mil.) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. (Agric.) A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; a drag. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses. [1913 Webster]
  • 12. An ancient instrument of torture. --Holinshed. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'brake'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Brake'