brake

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
“
But this arrangement leads to additional friction; and the power measured by the brake is a smaller percentage of the indicated horse power than in the Otto-Crossley engine.

View all »
Definitions (84)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. noun A device for slowing or stopping motion, as of a vehicle, especially by contact friction.
  2. noun Something that slows or stops action.
  3. transitive verb To reduce the speed of with or as if with a brake.
14 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (56)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (7)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Brake has been looked up 385 times, favorited 0 times, listed 7 times, and commented on twice.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

valve ·  tire ·  motor ·  cylinder ·  pump ·  gear ·  wheel ·  lever ·  piston ·  axle ·  steer ·  clutch
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (11)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. Probably brake, bridle, curb, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German, nose ring, curb, flax brake; see brake2.
  2. Middle English, from Middle Dutch, from Middle Low German; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.
  3. Middle English, from Old French brac, from oblique form of bras, arm; see bracer2.
  4. Middle English, probably back-formation from braken; see bracken.
  5. Middle English, from Middle Low German; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. Var. spelling of break; cf. brack and brake.
  2. from Middle English braken (=D. braken), vomit, a secondary form of breken, English break = German brechen, break, vomit: see break, and cf. parbrake.
  3. from Middle English brake, an instrument for breaking flax, also a name for other mechanical contrivances; not found in Anglo-Saxon, but prob. of Low German origin: Middle Low German Low German brake = Middle Dutch braecke, Dutch braak (vlas-braak, flax-brake) = Swedish bråka (lin-bråka, flax-brake) = Danish brage, a brake (cf. Old Dutch brake, a clog for the neck, Middle Dutch braecke, braake, an instrument for holding by the nose.; cf. Old High German brecha, Middle High German G. breche, a brake); from Middle Low German Low German D., etc., breken = German brechen = Anglo-Saxon brecan, English break, q. v. Brake is thus practically equivalent to break, n., of which, in some recent uses, it is only a different spelling, conformed to the older word.
  4. = MLG.LG.D from braken (later F. braquer)=Swedish bråka=Danish brage, brake; from the noun. Cf. break, v.
  5. from Middle English brake (see brake); not in Anglo-Saxon, but prob. of Low German origin: Middle Low German brake, bush, bushes, Low German brake, a willow-bush; orig. apparently rough or broken ground cf. Dutch braak (-land)=Middle Low German brake=G. brache, land broken but not sowed, Middle High German brāche, Old High German brācha, the breaking of land after harvest (=Middle Low German brake=Middle Dutch braecke, Dutch braak, breaking, a break: see brack); hence in comp., German brachfeld, equivalent to D. braakland, fallow land; Old High German Middle High German brāchmānōt, ‘plowing-month,’ June; whence separately as an adjective, Dutch braak=G. brach (later Danish brak). fallow; ult from Dutch breken=Old High German brechan, Middle High German brechen, German brechen=Anglo-Saxon brecan,English break; being thus closely akin to brack and to brake.
  6. from Middle English brake, apparently from Anglo-Saxon bracce (rare), a fern: see bracken. apparently confused in Middle English, etc., with brake, a thicket, etc.; cf. brake, brakebush, fern-brake.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/breɪk/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a week.

Recent Lookups

airboat · intercom · synonymy · jdbc · doorknob

Recent Favorites

airship · cloud-shadows · ombrophobous · turncoat · metaplasm

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious