Showing results for "brake"

• past tense form of break.

brake

¹ American  

[breyk] / breɪk /

noun

1. a device for slowing or stopping a vehicle or other moving mechanism by the absorption or transfer of the energy of momentum, usually by means of friction.

2. brakes, the drums, shoes, tubes, levers, etc., making up such a device on a vehicle.

3. anything that has a slowing or stopping effect.

4. Also called brakeman.  a member of a bobsled team who operates the brake.

5. Also called breaker.  Textiles. a tool or machine for breaking up flax or hemp, to separate the fiber.

6. Also called press brake.  a machine for bending sheet metal to a desired shape.

7. Obsolete. an old instrument of torture.

---

verb (used with object)

braked, braking

1. to slow or stop by means of or as if by means of a brake.

   Synonyms:

   bridle, curb, restrain, stay, arrest, halt

2. to furnish with brakes.

3. to process (flax or hemp) by crushing it in a brake.

verb (used without object)

braked, braking

1. to use or run a brake.

2. to stop or slow upon being braked.

3. to run a hoisting machine.

brake ² American  

[breyk] / breɪk /

noun

1. a place overgrown with bushes, brambles, or cane.

---

brake ³ American  

[breyk] / breɪk /

noun

1. any of several large or coarse ferns, especially the bracken, Pteridium aquilinum.

---

brake ⁴ American  

[breyk] / breɪk /

verb

Archaic.

1. simple past tense of break.

---

brake ¹ British  

/ breɪk /

noun

1. 1. (often plural) a device for slowing or stopping a vehicle, wheel, shaft, etc, or for keeping it stationary, esp by means of friction See also drum brake disc brake hydraulic brake air brake handbrake

   2. ( as modifier )

      the brake pedal

2. a machine or tool for crushing or breaking flax or hemp to separate the fibres

3. Also called: brake harrow.  a heavy harrow for breaking up clods

4. short for brake van

5. short for shooting brake

6. Also spelt: break.  an open four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage

7. an obsolete word for rack 1

---

verb

1. to slow down or cause to slow down, by or as if by using a brake

2. (tr) to crush or break up using a brake

brake ² British  

/ breɪk /

noun

1. an area of dense undergrowth, shrubs, brushwood, etc; thicket

---

brake ³ British  

/ breɪk /

noun

1. another name for bracken See also rock brake

---

brake ⁴ British  

/ breɪk /

verb

1. archaic a past tense of break

---

Other Word Forms

• brakeless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of brake¹

First recorded in 1400–50; of uncertain origin; possibly a special use of obsolete brake “a bridle, curb,” from Middle Dutch braeke “(flax) brake” (a tool that separates flax fibers from their woody stems); akin to break

Origin of brake²

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English fernebrake “fern thicket, fernbrake,” Old English (fearn)bracu “bed of fern, (fern)brake,” akin to Middle Low German brake “branch, twig, tree stump”

Origin of brake³

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English brake, probably by back formation from braken “thicket of fern,” taken as plural; see bracken

Explanation

To brake is to stop. The noun brake is the pedal in the car that stops the vehicle when pressed. When you want to brake, step on the brake)! In Middle English breken meant things that stopped others, such as a bridle for a horse. If your bicycle screeches at the bottom of every hill, maybe you should have the brakes checked. French Poet Paul Valery saw a brake as a stopping agent for more than just a vehicle: “Man's great misfortune is that he has no organ, no kind of eyelid or brake, to mask or block a thought, or all thought, when he wants to.”

Example Sentences

The brakes were first put on the Spin Boldak market when cross-border violence with neighbouring Pakistan prompted the near-total closure of the frontier in October.

From Barron's • Jul. 5, 2026

In the late 1990s, Greenspan’s Fed kept its foot off the brakes as economic growth cranked up to an annual clip of more than 4% for several years.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2026

Taking a page from the Build-A-Bear store, Slate’s pickups will start life with a minimum of equipment beyond that required by law—windshield, wipers, headlights, brakes, that sort of thing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 20, 2026

Two thousand years later, it’s good to hear that someone’s finally putting the brakes on this.

From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026

The brakes hiss and scream, metal on metal, and the train stops.

From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari

Related Words

• damper
• restraint