Etymology 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”).
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.
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 more example
Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.1950 November 23, “Mixed-Traffic Diesel-Electric Locomotives for Ireland”, in Railway Magazine, page 781:
2
The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle
Give the car a quick brake.
3
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences 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.
4
Figuratively Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.
You shall kneade[…]first with handes‥lastly with the brake.1617, Gervase Markham, Cavalarice the English Horseman:
› A device used to confine or prevent the…
9
A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing it.
10
An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
He was shooting, and the field where the [cock-fighting] ring was verged on the shooting-brake where the rabbits were.1868, March 7, The Illustrated London News, number 1472, volume 52, “Law and Police”, page 223
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A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.
12
A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.
shooting-brake
It had been arranged as part of the day’s programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
1 more example
A few moments later they heard the sound of an engine, and a muddy shooting brake appeared on the road behind them.1976, Terrance Dicks, chapter 1, in Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster, page 11:
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That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
Etymology 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”).
1
To operate a brake or brakes.
Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.1950 November 23, “Mixed-Traffic Diesel-Electric Locomotives for Ireland”, in Railway Magazine, page 781:
Etymology 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”).
1
A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.
Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, / To shelter thee from tempest and from rain.1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC:
He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone.1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC:
2 more examples
He halts, and searches with his eyes Among the scatter’d rocks: And now at distance can discern A stirring in a brake of fern […]1807, William Wordsworth, Poems, Fidelity:
The bird, with its fellow in the break, drummed, and whirred, and to the misfortune of its species made its plumage seem a prize to them.1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
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.2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 83: