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

See Examples For:

brake braked braking

Unlike some vehicles from competitors like Waymo or Tesla’s Robotaxi service, Zoox’s robotaxi doesn’t have a steering wheel or brake pedals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

The aircraft hit the sand and rolled for about 100 feet before Mike made a hard turn, forcing the aircraft to brake and enabling the pair to emerge unscathed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

This process acted as a natural brake on warming for millions of years and helped move Earth toward its present cooler climate.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026

Just a few days earlier, U.S. regulators proposed nixing rules requiring manual brake pedals in autonomous vehicles.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026

Birds began singing in brake and copse: birds were faithful to their mates; birds were emblems of love.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

The car braked, steered and accelerated more smoothly than my Ford Mustang Mach-E.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

“The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2026

When she braked, a third agent became visible standing in front of the car.

From Slate ● Jan. 7, 2026

Verstappen then braked too late to make the first corner, cutting the chicane.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2025

Within a few feet of my outstretched hand, she braked and alighted on my glove as softly as the fluff from a dandelion seed.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Tesla’s FSD controls steering, acceleration and braking, but requires close human supervision and intervention if it disengages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Federal regulators are currently weighing a mandate for emergency braking systems in vehicles more than 10,000 pounds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

But the lack of braking points means the cars will be energy starved this year, so will be running with not much more than half the engines' full power at key points of the track.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

A federal safety regulator has found that a long-standing investigation into unexpected braking issues in certain Tesla models posed only a low safety risk and have been addressed in subsequent software updates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Unfortunately, as she was braking to a halt, one of her wheels hit a bomb crater and the aircraft flipped upside down.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Related Words

• damper
• restraint