brake

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Disc brake on a motorcycle.

Origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German brake (“nose ring, curb, flax brake”), which according to Watkins is related to sense 4 and from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”).

Alternative forms

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Noun

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brake (plural brakes)

  1. A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car. [from 18th c.]
    She slammed the brakes when she saw a child run in front of the car.
    You’re pressing the brakes too hard—try just squeezing them.
    1. The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle
      Give the car a quick brake.
    2. (engineering) 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.
    3. (figuratively) Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.
  2. (military) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
    1. (obsolete) The winch of a crossbow. [14th–19th c.]
  3. (chiefly nautical) The handle of a pump.
    Synonym: swipe
  4. A baker’s kneading trough.
    • 1617, Gervase Markham, Cavalarice the English Horseman:
      You shall kneade […] first with handes‥lastly with the brake.
  5. A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
    1. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him.
    2. An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
      • 1868, March 7, The Illustrated London News, number 1472, volume 52, “Law and Police”, page 223:
        He was shooting, and the field where the [cock-fighting] ring was verged on the shooting-brake where the rabbits were.
    3. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.W
    4. A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.W
  6. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
Derived terms
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Terms derived from brake
Descendants
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  • → Japanese: ブレーキ (burēki)
  • → Korean: 브레이크 (beureikeu)
  • → Portuguese: breque
  • → Swahili: breki
  • → Thai: เบรก (brèek)
  • → Welsh: brêc
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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brake (third-person singular simple present brakes, present participle braking, simple past and past participle braked)

  1. (intransitive) To operate a brake or brakes.
  2. (intransitive) To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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Apparently a shortened form of bracken. (Compare chick, chicken.)

Noun

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brake (plural brakes)

  1. A fern; bracken (Pteridium). [from 14th c.]
  2. Any fern in the genus Pteris.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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From Old English *bracu, attested in a plural compound form fearnbraca (“thickets of fern”), probably from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”) and influenced by sense 2 (“fern”). Compare Middle Low German brake (“stump, branch”).

Noun

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brake (plural brakes)

  1. A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc. [from 15th c.]
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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Etymology 4

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Late Middle English, from Middle Low German brake, Dutch braak, Old Dutch braeke; possibly related to sense 1.

Noun

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brake (plural brakes)

  1. (textiles) A tool used for breaking flax or hemp. [from 15th c.]
  2. A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)
  3. A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after ploughing; a drag.
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Translations
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Verb

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brake (third-person singular simple present brakes, present participle braking, simple past and past participle braked)

  1. (transitive) To bruise and crush; to knead.
    The farmer’s son brakes the flax while mother brakes the bread dough
  2. (transitive) To pulverise with a harrow.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 5

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Uncertain.

Noun

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brake (plural brakes)

  1. (obsolete) A cage. [16th–17th c.]
  2. (now historical) A type of torture instrument. [from 16th c.]
    • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 83:
      Methods of applying pain were many and ingenious, in particular the ways of twisting, stretching and manipulating the body out of shape, normally falling under the catch-all term of the rack, or the brakes.

Etymology 6

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Inflected forms.

Verb

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brake

  1. (archaic) simple past of break

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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brake

  1. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of breken
  2. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of braken

Anagrams

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Yola

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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brake

  1. simple past of brough
    • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 12-14:
      az avare ye trad dicke londe yer name waz ee-kent var ee vriene o' livertie, an He fo brake ye neckarès o' zlaves.
      for before your foot pressed the soil, your name was known to us as the friend of liberty, and he who broke the fetters of the slave.

References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 114
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