brake
Pronunciation: /bɹeɪk/
The English word “brake” has 20 meanings listed here.
noun
- 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.
- The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle
- 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.
- Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.
- An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
- The winch of a crossbow.
- The handle of a pump.
- A baker’s kneading trough.
- A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing it.
- An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
- A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.
- A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.
- That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
- Any fern in the genus Pteris.
- Bracken (Pteridium spp.).
- A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.
- A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)
- A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth after ploughing; a drag.
verb
Etymology
Origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German brake (“nose ring, curb, flax brake”), which according to Watkins is related to sense 4 and from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”).
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.