brake

BRAYK/bɹeɪk/

Pluralbrakes

Verbbrakes, braking, braked

Often confused with break

26 meanings of brake

Practice

1
nouncountable
A part that slows or stops a wheel or vehicle, usually by rubbing, or the pedal that works it.
Like dragging your feet on the ground to stop a bike.
She pressed the brake hard when the dog ran into the road.
The car's brakes squealed as it slowed for the corner.
Oppositeaccelerator
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2
verbintransitive
To use the brake to slow down or stop.
Like pushing back on the pedals to slow a bike.
She braked gently as she came to the corner.
You should brake early on wet roads.
Similarslow, decelerate, stop
Oppositeaccelerate
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3
nouncountable
The act of using a brake to slow down a vehicle or machine.
Like a quick stop that pushes you forward in your seat.
A sudden brake threw the passengers forward.
Several hard brakes wore down the tires quickly.
4
nounfigurativelycountable
Anything that slows down or stops an action or process.
Like a hand that holds something back from moving.
High taxes can act as a brake on spending.
Fear became a brake on her ambitions.
Similarcurb, check, restraint, damper, drag
Oppositespur, stimulus, boost
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5
verbintransitive
To slow down or stop, as if a brake were being used.
Like a ball slowing down as it rolls across thick grass.
The sled braked sharply in the deep snow.
Heavy loads brake faster on a steep incline.
Similarslow, decelerate, stop, halt
Oppositeaccelerate
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6
nouncountable or uncountable
A large, rough fern that grows wild in fields and open woods.
The hillside was covered in thick brake.
Deer hid among the brake at the edge of the forest.
Similarbracken
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7
nouncountable or uncountable
A type of fern belonging to a group sometimes grown in homes and gardens.
She kept a pot of brake on the kitchen windowsill.
The greenhouse smelled of damp soil and fresh brake.
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8
nouncountable
A thick patch of bushes, briers, or other wild plants.
Like a wild tangle of bushes too thick to walk through.
A rabbit darted into the brake beside the path.
They cut a trail through the dense brake.
Similarthicket, brush, undergrowth, scrub
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9
nouncountable
A machine that bends flat sheets of metal into shapes.
Like folding a stiff sheet of paper along a sharp crease.
The worker fed the steel into the brake.
A metal brake folds the panel along a straight line.
Note
10
nouncountable
A large, heavy farm tool dragged over plowed land to break up lumps of soil.
Like a big rake pulled across a garden to crush dirt clumps.
The farmer hitched the brake behind the tractor.
A heavy brake smoothed the rough field after plowing.
Similarharrow, drag
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11
nouncountable
A large carriage used to carry hunting parties and their gear.
Like a big open wagon that takes a group out for the day.
The guests rode out to the moor in an open brake.
A brake carried the hunters and their dogs to the field.
Note
12
nouncountable
A device that measures an engine's power by the friction it can overcome.
Like measuring how strong someone is by how hard they can pull against a rope.
Engineers attached a brake to test the new engine's power.
The brake measured how much force the motor could push against.
Similardynamometer
Note
13
nouncountable
The part of a carriage or engine that lets it turn or change direction.
The crew used the brake to swing the heavy gun into position.
Without the brake, the long wagon could not turn in the narrow yard.
14
nouncountable
A fenced pen that keeps cattle or horses from moving around.
Like a small fenced yard that keeps animals in one place.
The farmer led the cow into the brake before milking.
They built a sturdy brake to hold the horses at night.
Similarpen, enclosure, corral, pound
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15
nouncountable
A strong frame that holds a difficult horse still while it gets new shoes.
Like a holder that keeps a wiggly pet still at the vet.
The blacksmith backed the nervous horse into the brake.
Without a brake, shoeing a kicking horse is dangerous.
Note
16
nouncountable
A simple cart with no body, used to train young horses to pull.
Like a practice setup that helps a young horse learn to pull.
The trainer hitched the young horse to the brake.
They drove the colt around the yard in a brake.
17
nouncountable
The handle you push up and down to work a pump.
Like the handle on a water pump that you move to make water come out.
He pushed the brake down hard to draw water.
The brake on the old pump had rusted stiff.
Similarhandle, lever
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18
nouncountable
A large container where a baker mixes and works dough.
Like a big bowl where you mix and squeeze bread dough.
The baker dumped flour into the brake and began mixing.
Fresh dough rose along the sides of the brake.
Similartrough
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19
nouncountable
A tool that crushes flax or hemp stalks to free the fibers.
Like a nutcracker, but for crushing dried plant stems.
She pulled the dried flax through the brake to crush it.
The brake snapped the brittle stalks with each stroke.
Note
20
verbtransitive
To crush and press something, the way you work soft dough.
Like squashing a soft fruit until it turns to mush.
Workers brake the clay until it turns soft and smooth.
You must brake the dough well before baking it.
Similarcrush, pound, mash, knead, bruise
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21
verbtransitive
To break up soil into small bits using a harrow.
Like raking lumpy dirt until it becomes soft and fine.
Farmers brake the soil before planting seeds.
They brake the hard clods with a heavy harrow.
Similarharrow, till
22
nouncountable
An old war machine that shot heavy bolts or stones, like a giant crossbow.
Like a giant crossbow on wheels that armies used long ago.
The soldiers loaded the brake with a heavy stone.
A single brake could smash a wooden gate.
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23
nounobsolete
The crank that pulls back the string of a crossbow.
Like the crank you turn to wind up a heavy rope.
He turned the brake to pull the bowstring back.
The heavy bow needed a brake to load it.
Note
24
nounobsolete
A cage for holding a person or animal.
Note
25
nounhistoricalcountable
A device once used to hurt and punish people.
The jailer threatened the prisoner with the brake.
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.
2011, Thomas Penn, Winter KingHere, brakes means a tool once used to cause pain as torture.
Similarrack
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26
verbarchaic
Past tense of break. It is an old word for "broke."
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of brake apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–5, 11–18, 22–23

The origin is not certain. It may come from a Middle Dutch or Middle Low German word 'brake', meaning things like 'nose ring' or 'flax brake'.

Meanings 6–7

It seems to be a shortened form of the word 'bracken'.

Meaning 8

It comes from Old English *bracu, seen in a word for thickets of fern, probably from a Proto-Germanic word meaning 'to break'.

Meanings 9–10, 19–21

From late Middle English, taken from Middle Low German 'brake' and Dutch 'braak'.