brake
noun
[ breɪk ]
• a device for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, typically by applying pressure to the wheels.
• "he slammed on his brakes"
• another term for brake van.
brake
verb
• make a moving vehicle slow down or stop by using a brake.
• "she had to brake hard to avoid a milk float"
Similar:
slow down,
slow,
decelerate,
reduce speed,
put on the brakes,
hit the brakes,
slam on the anchors,
Origin:
late 18th century: of unknown origin.
brake
noun
• an open horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.
Origin:
mid 19th century: variant of break2.
brake
noun
• a toothed instrument used for crushing flax and hemp.
Origin:
late Middle English: possibly related to Middle Low German brake and Dutch braak, and perhaps also to break1.
brake
noun
• a thicket.
Origin:
Old English bracu (first recorded in the plural in fearnbraca ‘thickets of fern’), related to Middle Low German brake ‘branch, stump’.
brake
noun
• a coarse fern of warm and tropical countries, frequently having the fronds divided into long linear segments.
Origin:
Middle English: perhaps an abbreviation of bracken (interpreted as plural).
brake
verb
• archaic past of break1.
