1.
2.
3.
[syn: bracken, pasture brake, brake, Pteridium aquilinum]
4. an area thickly overgrown usually with one kind of plant;
5. anything that slows or hinders a process;
- Example: "she wan not ready to put the brakes on her life with a marriage"
- Example: "new legislation will put the brakes on spending"
VERB (2)
1. stop travelling by applying a brake;
- Example: "We had to brake suddenly when a chicken crossed the road"
2. cause to stop by applying the brakes;
- Example: "brake the car before you go into a curve"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. t. [imp. broke (br[=o]k), (Obs.
Brake); p. p. Broken (br[=o]"k'n), (Obs. Broke); p. pr.
& vb. n. Breaking.] [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS.
brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to
creak, Sw. braka, br[aum]kka to crack, Dan. br[ae]kke to
break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to
pound, Breach, Fragile.]
1. To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with
violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal;
to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock.
--Shak.
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2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a
package of goods.
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3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or
communicate.
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Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak.
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4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
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Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.
--Milton
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5. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or
terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to
break one's journey.
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Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
--Shak.
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6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as,
to break a set.
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7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to
pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British
squares.
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8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
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The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments
with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.
--Prescott.
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9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller
denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
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10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as,
to break flax.
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11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
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An old man, broken with the storms of state.
--Shak.
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12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a
fall or blow.
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I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.
--Dryden.
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13. To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to,
and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as,
to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose
cautiously to a friend.
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14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to
discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or
saddle. "To break a colt." --Spenser.
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Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?
--Shak.
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15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to
ruin.
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With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
--Dryden.
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16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to
cashier; to dismiss.
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I see a great officer broken. --Swift.
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Note: With prepositions or adverbs:
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To break down.
(a) To crush; to overwhelm; as, to break down one's
strength; to break down opposition.
(b) To remove, or open a way through, by breaking; as, to
break down a door or wall.
To break in.
(a) To force in; as, to break in a door.
(b) To train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in.
To break of, to rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break
one of a habit.
To break off.
(a) To separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig.
(b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break off thy sins by
righteousness." --Dan. iv. 27.
To break open, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I
will break it open." --Shak.
To break out, to take or force out by breaking; as, to
break out a pane of glass.
To break out a cargo, to unstow a cargo, so as to unload it
easily.
To break through.
(a) To make an opening through, as, as by violence or the
force of gravity; to pass violently through; as, to
break through the enemy's lines; to break through the
ice.
(b) To disregard; as, to break through the ceremony.
To break up.
(a) To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow
ground). "Break up this capon." --Shak. "Break up
your fallow ground." --Jer. iv. 3.
(b) To dissolve; to put an end to. "Break up the court."
--Shak.
To break (one) all up, to unsettle or disconcert
completely; to upset. [Colloq.]
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Note: With an immediate object:
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To break the back.
(a) To dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally.
(b) To get through the worst part of; as, to break the
back of a difficult undertaking.
To break bulk, to destroy the entirety of a load by
removing a portion of it; to begin to unload; also, to
transfer in detail, as from boats to cars.
To break a code to discover a method to convert coded
messages into the original understandable text.
To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting
concealment, as game when hunted.
To break a deer or To break a stag, to cut it up and
apportion the parts among those entitled to a share.
To break fast, to partake of food after abstinence. See
Breakfast.
To break ground.
(a) To open the earth as for planting; to commence
excavation, as for building, siege operations, and
the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a
canal, or a railroad.
(b) Fig.: To begin to execute any plan.
(c) (Naut.) To release the anchor from the bottom.
To break the heart, to crush or overwhelm (one) with grief.
To break a house (Law), to remove or set aside with
violence and a felonious intent any part of a house or of
the fastenings provided to secure it.
To break the ice, to get through first difficulties; to
overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a
subject.
To break jail, to escape from confinement in jail, usually
by forcible means.
To break a jest, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the
livelong day breaks scurril jests." --Shak.
To break joints, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc.,
so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with
those in the preceding course.
To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest.
To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.
To break no squares, to create no trouble. [Obs.]
To break a path, road, etc., to open a way through
obstacles by force or labor.
To break upon a wheel, to execute or torture, as a criminal
by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his limbs
with an iron bar; -- a mode of punishment formerly
employed in some countries.
To break wind, to give vent to wind from the anus.
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Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate;
infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Brake \Brake\ (br[=a]k),
imp. of Break. [Arhaic] --Tennyson.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Brake \Brake\, n. [OE. brake fern; cf. AS. bracce fern, LG.
brake willow bush, Da. bregne fern, G. brach fallow; prob.
orig. the growth on rough, broken ground, fr. the root of E.
break. See Break, v. t., cf. Bracken, and 2d Brake, n.]
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1. (Bot.) A fern of the genus Pteris, esp. the Pteris
aquilina, common in almost all countries. It has solitary
stems dividing into three principal branches. Less
properly: Any fern.
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2. A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles,
with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes.
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Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough,
To shelter thee from tempest and from rain. --Shak.
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He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for
stone. --Sir W.
Scott.
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Cane brake, a thicket of canes. See Canebrake.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Brake \Brake\ (br[=a]k), n. [OE. brake; cf. LG. brake an
instrument for breaking flax, G. breche, fr. the root of E.
break. See Break, v. t., and cf. Breach.]
1. An instrument or machine to break or bruise the woody part
of flax or hemp so that it may be separated from the
fiber.
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2. An extended handle by means of which a number of men can
unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine.
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3. A baker's kneading though. --Johnson.
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4. A sharp bit or snaffle.
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Pampered jades . . . which need nor break nor bit.
--Gascoigne.
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5. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith
is shoeing him; also, an inclosure to restrain cattle,
horses, etc.
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A horse . . . which Philip had bought . . . and
because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of
iron bars. --J. Brende.
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6. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or
engine, which enables it to turn.
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7. (Mil.) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow
and ballista.
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8. (Agric.) A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after
plowing; a drag.
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9. 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.
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10. (Engin.) 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.
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11. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in
horses.
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12. An ancient instrument of torture. --Holinshed.
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Air brake. See Air brake, in the Vocabulary.
Brake beam or Brake bar, the beam that connects the brake
blocks of opposite wheels.
Brake block.
(a) The part of a brake holding the brake shoe.
(b) A brake shoe.
Brake shoe or Brake rubber, the part of a brake against
which the wheel rubs.
Brake wheel, a wheel on the platform or top of a car by
which brakes are operated.
Continuous brake . See under Continuous.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
brake
n 1: a restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle
2: any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately
compound leaves and including several popular houseplants
3: large coarse fern often several feet high; essentially weed
ferns; cosmopolitan [syn: bracken, pasture brake,
brake, Pteridium aquilinum]
4: an area thickly overgrown usually with one kind of plant
5: 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"
v 1: stop travelling by applying a brake; "We had to brake
suddenly when a chicken crossed the road"
2: cause to stop by applying the brakes; "brake the car before
you go into a curve"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
104 Moby Thesaurus words for "brake":
arrest, backpedal, backwater, bar, bearing rein, bit, block,
boscage, bosket, bring to, bring up short, canebrake, ceja, chain,
chamisal, chaparral, check, checkmate, checkrein, chock,
clip the wings, clog, constraint, control, coppice, copse,
copsewood, countercheck, covert, curb, curb bit, cut short, dam,
damper, deadlock, decelerate, delay, detain, doorstop, drag,
drag sail, draw rein, drift anchor, drift sail, drogue, ease off,
ease up, fetter, freeze, frith, halt, hold back, hold in check,
hold up, holdback, impede, keep back, let down, let up,
lose ground, lose momentum, lose speed, martingale, moderate,
motte, obstruct, pelham, pull up, put paid to, reef, rein, rein in,
relax, remora, restraint, restriction, retard, scotch, sea anchor,
set back, shackle, slack off, slack up, slacken, slow, slow down,
slow up, snaffle, spoke, stalemate, stall, stay, stem,
stem the tide, stop, stop cold, stop dead, stop short, stymie,
take in sail, thicket, thickset, throttle down, trammel