brake

Definitions

1. 1

   imp. of Break.

2. 2noun

   A fern of the genus Pteris, esp. the P. aquilina, common in almost all countries. It has solitary stems dividing into three principal branches. Less properly: Any fern.

3. 3noun

   A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles, with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes.

4. 4transitive verb

   An instrument or machine to break or bruise the woody part of flax or hemp so that it may be separated from the fiber.

5. 5transitive verb

   An extended handle by means of which a number of men can unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine.

6. 6transitive verb

   A baker's kneading though.

7. 7transitive verb

   A sharp bit or snaffle.

8. 8transitive verb

   A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him; also, an inclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.

9. 9transitive verb

   That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.

10. 10transitive verb

    An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.

11. 11transitive verb

    A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; a drag.

12. 12transitive verb

    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.

13. 13transitive verb

    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.

14. 14transitive verb

    A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.

15. 15transitive verb

    An ancient instrument of torture.

16. 16

    of Break

17. 17noun

    a restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle

18. 18noun

    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"

19. 19noun

    an area thickly overgrown usually with one kind of plant

20. 20noun

    large coarse fern often several feet high; essentially weed ferns; cosmopolitan

    Synonyms

    bracken
21. 21noun

    any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately compound leaves and including several popular houseplants

22. 22verb

    cause to stop by applying the brakes

    "brake the car before you go into a curve"

23. 23verb

    stop travelling by applying a brake

    "We had to brake suddenly when a chicken crossed the road"