What does brake mean?

Definitions for brake
breɪkbrake

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word brake.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. brakenoun

    a restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle

  2. brakenoun

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

  3. bracken, pasture brake, brake, Pteridium aquilinumnoun

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

  4. brakenoun

    an area thickly overgrown usually with one kind of plant

  5. brakeverb

    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"

  6. brakeverb

    stop travelling by applying a brake

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

  7. brakeverb

    cause to stop by applying the brakes

    "brake the car before you go into a curve"

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. BRAKEnoun

    A thicket of brambles, or of thorns.

    Etymology: of uncertain etymology.

    A dog of this town used daily to fetch meat, and to carry the same unto a blind mastiff, that lay in a brake without the town. Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwal.

    If I’m traduc’d by tongues, which neither know
    My faculties nor person; let me say,
    ’Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake
    That virtue must go through. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

    In every bush and brake, where hap may find
    The serpent sleeping. John Milton, Par. Lost, b. ix. l. 160.

    Full little thought of him the gentle knight,
    Who, flying death, had there conceal’d his flight;
    In brakes and brambles hid, and shunning mortal sight. John Dryden, Fables.

  2. Brakenoun

  3. Brakethe preterite of break.

    He thought it sufficient to correct the multitude with sharp words, and brake out into this cholerick speech. Richard Knolles, Hist.

Wikipedia

  1. Brake

    A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction.

ChatGPT

  1. brake

    A brake is a device or mechanism used in vehicles, machines, or any moving equipment to reduce speed or halt movement, often by means of friction. It is a safety feature to control or stop the motion, usually by converting kinetic energy into heat.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Brake

    imp. of Break

  2. Brakenoun

    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. Brakenoun

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

  4. Brakeverb

    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. Brakeverb

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

  6. Brakeverb

    a baker's kneading though

  7. Brakeverb

    a sharp bit or snaffle

  8. Brakeverb

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

  9. Brakeverb

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

  10. Brakeverb

    an ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista

  11. Brakeverb

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

  12. Brakeverb

    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. Brakeverb

    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. Brakeverb

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

  15. Brakeverb

    an ancient instrument of torture

  16. Brake

    of Break

Wikidata

  1. Brake

    A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes. Most commonly brakes use friction to convert kinetic energy into heat, though other methods of energy conversion may be employed. For example regenerative braking converts much of the energy to electrical energy, which may be stored for later use. Other methods convert kinetic energy into potential energy in such stored forms as pressurized air or pressurized oil. Eddy current brakes use magnetic fields to convert kinetic energy into electric current in the brake disc, fin, or rail, which is converted into heat. Still other braking methods even transform kinetic energy into different forms, for example by transferring the energy to a rotating flywheel. Brakes are generally applied to rotating axles or wheels, but may also take other forms such as the surface of a moving fluid. Some vehicles use a combination of braking mechanisms, such as drag racing cars with both wheel brakes and a parachute, or airplanes with both wheel brakes and drag flaps raised into the air during landing. Since kinetic energy increases quadratically with velocity, an object moving at 10 m/s has 100 times as much energy as one of the same mass moving at 1 m/s, and consequently the theoretical braking distance, when braking at the traction limit, is 100 times as long. In practice, fast vehicles usually have significant air drag, and energy lost to air drag rises quickly with speed.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Brake

    brāk, obsolete, pa.t. of Break.

  2. Brake

    brāk, n. a fern: a place overgrown with ferns or briers; a thicket.—adj. Brak′y. [A doublet of Bracken; ety. dub.]

  3. Brake

    brāk, n. an instrument to break flax or hemp: a harrow: a contrivance for retarding by friction the speed of carriages, wagons, trains, or revolving drums.—adj. Brake′less, without a brake.—ns. Brake′man, the man whose business it is to manage the brake of a railway-train; Brake′-van, the carriage wherein the brake is worked; Brake′-wheel, the wheel to which a brake is applied. [From root of Break; cf. Dut. braak, a flax-brake.]

  4. Brake

    brāk, n. a handle, as of a pump: a lever for working a machine. [Prob. through O. Fr. brac, from L. brachium, an arm.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. brake

    The handle or lever by which a common ship-pump is usually worked. It operates by means of two iron bolts, one thrust through the inner hole of it, which bolted through forms the lever axis in the iron crutch of the pump, and serves as the fulcrum for the brake, supporting it between the cheeks. The other bolt connects the extremity of the brake to the pump-spear, which draws up the spear box or piston, charged with the water in the tube; derived from brachium, an arm or lever. Also, used to check the speed of machinery by frictional force pressing on the circumference of the largest wheel acted on by leverage of the brake.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. brake

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

  2. brake

    An ancient engine of war analogous to the cross-bow and balista.

Suggested Resources

  1. Brake

    Brake vs. Break -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Brake and Break.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. BRAKE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Brake is ranked #5591 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Brake surname appeared 6,220 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 would have the surname Brake.

    87.3% or 5,431 total occurrences were White.
    6.6% or 415 total occurrences were Black.
    2.4% or 155 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.8% or 117 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    1.2% or 75 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    0.4% or 27 total occurrences were Asian.

British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'brake' in Nouns Frequency: #2896

Anagrams for brake »

  1. break

  2. baker

How to pronounce brake?

How to say brake in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of brake in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of brake in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of brake in a Sentence

  1. Raoul Jardine of Allentown:

    It was definitely a whiteout. I couldn't see any farther than probably two city blocks, i saw brake lights and pulled off to the side. Somebody hit me when I was parked in the shoulder.

  2. Deputy Labour Minister Dimitris Stratoulis:

    Our government is making every possible effort right now to have a positive deal, which will respect our program, which will respect the main principle of our program since we took power, which is to put a brake on wage and pension cuts.

  3. Chief Justice John Roberts:

    I suspect most of you here were surprised to learn that only one brake light is required in North Carolina, even if you are from North Carolina.

  4. General Motors:

    General Motors is voluntarily recalling certain 2014-2018 model year Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Sierra, and GMC Yukon vehicles for a condition related to increased brake pedal effort, in rare circumstances, these vehicles may have a condition in which the engine-mounted mechanical vacuum pump output may decrease over time, decreasing the amount of vacuum/power brake assist.

  5. Rex Hudler:

    The morning after the KC Royals won the 2015 ALDS vs. the Astros, Rex was on sports talk radio discussing the upcoming ALCS against the Toronto Blue jays. Hudler says, "The Royals need to drop a Royal blue turd right in the blue jays nest." The radio hosts were laughing so hard they had to brake to a commercial.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

brake#1#6517#10000

Translations for brake

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"brake." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/brake>.

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