brake1
/breɪk
/noun
1A device for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, typically by applying pressure to the wheels: he slammed on his brakes [as modifier]: a brake pedal...
- And it uses the same technology as ESP by applying engine and brake control to the vehicle.
- Yes, the gearbox was a bit saggy and I was alarmed at how much pressure the brake pedal needed to do an emergency stop, but other than this, all was well.
- Pressing the DSC switch briefly disables the engine intervention, and uses the wheel brakes to control wheel spin.
1.1A thing that slows or hinders a process: constrained resources will act as a brake on research...
- Don't be surprised if your child wants to put the brakes on the process once she has told you.
- The authorities in China have already acted to put the brakes on credit growth.
- In effect, for ideological reasons the administration put the brakes on one of the most promising lines of biomedical research.
Synonyms
curb, check, restraint, restriction, constraint, rein, control, damper, impediment, limitation
2 another term for brake van.
verb [no object]
Make a moving vehicle slow down or stop by using a brake: she had to brake hard to avoid a milk float (as noun modifier braking) an anti-lock braking system...
- When I realised I urgently needed to stop I braked hard and my foot slipped off the pedal.
- During this he drove through red traffic lights, forced other vehicles to brake to avoid collisions, weaved in and out of traffic, and reached 85 mph.
- He braked but the vehicle would not stop and they collided with the wall.
Synonyms
slow down, slow, decelerate;
reduce speed, put on the brakes, hit the brakes
British informal slam on the anchors
Origin
Late 18th century: of unknown origin.
Rhymes
brake2
/breɪk/noun historical
An open horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.The cost of travelling by alternative means such as coach or brake was prohibitive over a season, so the railways were vital.
Origin
Mid 19th century: variant of break2.
brake3
/breɪk/noun
1A toothed instrument used for crushing flax and hemp.The farmer passed handfuls of flax through a tool called a flax brake to break up the hard inner core....
- After drying again, the stems were broken in a flax brake (flailing a wooden knife against a wooden block).
- This process usually requires a flax brake, a wooden device consisting of two hinged blades.
1.1 (also brake harrow) A heavy machine formerly used in agriculture for breaking up large lumps of earth.To reduce such ground, a large heavy harrow, generally termed a brake, is commonly employed.
Origin
Late Middle English: possibly related to Middle Low German brake and Dutch braak, and perhaps also to break1.
brake4
/breɪk/noun archaic or literary
A thicket. See also fernbrake.It is one of those thickets or brakes in which the cane grows from twelve to thirty feet in height.
Origin
Old English bracu (first recorded in the plural in fearnbraca 'thickets of fern'), related to Middle Low German brake 'branch, stump'.
brake5
/breɪk/(also brake fern)
noun
1A coarse fern of warm and tropical countries, frequently having the fronds divided into long linear segments.
- Genus Pteris, family Pteridaceae.
- Four-month-old Chinese brake fern (P. vittata), slender brake fern (P. ensiformis), and Boston fern (N. exaltata) were obtained from a commercial nursery.
- Pteris vittata, or brake fern, could potentially be used to clean up the poison, which is both naturally occurring in soil and unnaturally present in farm chemicals, wood preservatives, and other products.
1.1 archaic term for bracken.The word brake or bracken is one of the many plant names from which some of our English surnames are derived, as Brack, Breck, Brackenridge, etc....
- The names bracken and brake are sometimes also applied to other large, coarse ferns and, as general terms, to a thicket of such plants.
Origin
Middle English: perhaps an abbreviation of bracken (interpreted as plural).
brake6
/breɪk/ Archaic past of break1.