▪ I. brake, n.1
(breɪk)
[ME. brake, not found in northern writers, said by Turner (1562) to be the equivalent of the northern braken: see bracken. It was possibly a shortened form: perh. due to braken being assumed by southern speakers to be a plural: cf. chick, chicken, also brack n.4 But it may also possibly be a parallel form from the same root. brake n.2 appears too late for us to assume that this word could in any way be derived from it; though in recent use they are probably often assumed to be the same word, as if the ‘brake’ were a plant that grows in ‘brakes’ or vice versa.]
1. Fern, bracken.
| c 1325 W. de Biblesworth in Wright Voc. 156 Feugere, a brake. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 47 Brake, herbe or ferme. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. A ij b, Filix femina..is the commen ferne or brake whiche the Norther men call a braken. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 189 Those who burn brakes for their ashes. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 685 Self-conceit grows..out of ignorance, as heath and brakes do from barren sands. 1842 Tennyson Day-Dream, Sleep Pal. vi, A wall of green Close-matted, bur and brake and briar. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. viii. (ed. 2) 181 The common brake (pteris aquilina). |
2. Comb. and attrib., as brake-bush, brake-fern, brake-root; brake of the wall, the common polypody.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 47 Brakebushe or fernebrake, filicetum. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 39 a, Take..sixe unces of the rotes of Brak of the wal or Polipody. 1626 Bacon Sylva §83 The making of Glass, of a certain Sand and Brake-Roots. |
▪ II. brake, n.2
(breɪk)
Also 7 bracke, 8–9 break(e.
[cf. MLG. brake, connected with breken to break, and originally meaning tree-stumps or broken branches, but also used (esp. in the phrase busk unde brake, bush and brake) in the exact sense of the Eng. word. See Schiller-Lübben. The historical relation of the Eng. to the LG. word is unknown.]
A clump of bushes, brushwood, or briers; a thicket. Also attrib., as in brake-axe.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 47 Brakebushe or fernebrake, filicetum. 1563 Mirr. Mag., Jane Shore xviii, What scratting bryers do growe upon such brakes. 1590 R. Payne Descr. Irel. (1841) 6 A simple workeman with a Brake axe will cleaue a greate Oke. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. xvi. 282 Their Houses were caues, their pallaces brackes or thickots. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 175 So thick entwin'd, As one continu'd brake, the undergrowth Of shrubs. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1290 Rendered almost impassable..by breaks of fern, shrubs, and fallen trees. 1821 Shelley Adonais xviii, The amorous birds now pair in every brake. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xiv. 121 He saw again the cane brakes and cypresses of gliding plantations. |
▪ III. brake, n.3
(breɪk)
Also 5 braoke, brakene (sense 3), 6 braake, 8 Sc. braik (sense 2), 9 break.
[Identical with MLG. brake, or ODu. braeke, mod.Du. braak a flax-brake (whence F. braquer to brake flax), f. Du. breken to break. The resemblance of the n. to the cognate Eng. verb apparently gave rise to the extension of sense by which brake became a generic name of implements used for breaking or crushing. The form brakene in Promp. Parv. may possibly represent the pl. of the MLG. or Du. word.]
1. A toothed instrument for braking flax or hemp.
| c 1450 in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 608 Rupa, a braoke. Ibid. 696 Hec rupa, a brake. 1451 Test. Ebor. III. 119, j brake ijd. 1552 Huloet, Brake for flaxe or hempe. 1611 Cotgr., Brioche, a brake for hempe. 1615 Markham Eng. Housw. (1660) 132 You may then at your pleasure break it [flax]..in a brake of wood. 1704 Dict. Rust. et Urb., Brake or Flax-Blake; is two pieces of timber, with teeth. 1858 Carpenter Veg. Phys. §516 A very simple machine is used for this purpose, termed a break. 1869 Spon Dict. Engineering I. 629 Fig. 1285 shows [a] Hemp and Flax Brake. |
2. A baker's kneading-machine. Hence brakesman, break(s)man, a man who operates a baker's kneading-machine; brake- (or break-) staff (see quots.).
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Bray or brakene, baxteris instrument, pinsa. 1567 Thomas Ital. Gram., Macinella, a braake to knede dowe withall, or to brake liue hempe. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1108 A Brake, frangibulum, Plin. mactra. 1617 Markham Caval. vi. 15 You shall kneade..first with handes..lastly with the brake. 1836 P. Barlow in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 801/2 [The dough] is deposited on a strong wooden platform or table, called a break, to be operated upon by the breaksman, who seizes a strong lever called a break-staff, with which he presses down the dough. 1845 Dodd Brit. Manuf. V. 23 Ships' biscuits..made by hand... The dough was..taken from the trough and put on a wooden platform called the break. On this platform worked a roller, called the break⁓staff... One end..was loosely attached by a kind of staple to the wall, and the breakman, riding or sitting on the other end, worked the roller to and fro over the dough, by an uncouth jumping or shuffling movement. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §433 Brake operator, brakesman, breaksman,..is one of two men who operate brake machine for compressing, with rollers, kneaded paste into sheets, preparatory to biscuit stamping. |
3. In Brewing and similar processes: A wooden mill to crush green fruits, hops, etc.
| 1534 Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 187 A brake to make verjoyce with. 1571 Wills & Inv. N.C. i. (1835) 360, j brake w{supt}{suph} the tonge & pynn viij{supd}. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 425 You shall put them [hops] into a..woodden Brake, and there crush, grind, or bruise them. |
4. A heavy harrow for crushing clods. Also called brake-harrow.
| 1785 Burns 2nd Ep. Lapraik 2 An' pownies reek in pleugh or braik. 1844 Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 532 The brake-harrow is only an enlargement of the common implement..Brakes are made of various forms. |
5. An instrument resembling a pair of scissors set wide open, for peeling the bark from willows for basket-making.
| 1824 Mech. Mag. II. 223 My new invented brake for taking the bark off willows. 1880 Jefferies Hodge & M. II. 89 The willows are carried to the brakes. |
▪ IV. brake, n.4
(breɪk)
[Perhaps a. OF. brac, oblique case of bras an arm; cf. F. braquer le timon to turn the rudder, braquer un canon to point a cannon.]
1. A lever or handle for working a machine. † a. The winch of a crossbow (only in phrase bows of brake); hence a crossbow, ballista, or similar engine. Obs. exc. Hist.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3276 And wyþ boȝes eke of brake for to schute þykke. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 293 Setteþ bowes of brake and brasene gonnes. c 1440 Partonope 1149 The bowes of brake are bent in hast. 1552 Huloet, Brake, or crosbowe, ballista. 1600 Holland Livy xxi. xi. 400 g, With ordinance of quarell shot, brakes, and other artillerie. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xviii. xliii. 324 Not rammes, not mightie brakes, not slings alone. 1840 Browning Sordello iv. 372 Arbalist, catapult, brake, mangonel. |
b. The handle of a pump.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 12 The pumpes brake. 1627 ― Seaman's Gram. ii. 8 The handle we call the brake. 1762–9 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 466 At either pump they ply the clanking brake. 1831 Lardner Pneumat. vi. 314 The piston is worked..in common pumps by a lever, called the brake. |
c. A lever forming part of the apparatus for boring coal.
| 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 10 A Brake..consists of a lever..12 feet long; the fulcrum..2 feet from the end above the bore-hole. 1855 G. Greenwell Mining Eng. 109 A brake is a simple lever..having an iron crook attached from which the [boring] rods are suspended by a piece of rope. |
2. Comb., as brake-pump, a pump worked by a brake; brake-sieve (Mining), a rectangular sieve worked by a lever or brake.
| 1881 Daily Tel. 28 Jan., A couple of men..laid hold of the brake pump. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Brake-sieve, a jigger, operated by a hand-lever. |
▪ V. † brake, n.5 Obs.
Also 5 breake.
[Of uncertain origin: possibly identical with the prec. n. (cf. F. braquer un chariot ‘to turn, set, or bend a chariot on the right or left hand’ Cotgr.); more probably a. ODu. braeke (see brake n.3), occurring in the sense of a nose-ring for a draught ox; or extended use of brake n.3, due to influence of the verb break (a horse).]
A bridle or curb. (Said in Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1753 to be a synonym of barnacle1.) Obs.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, Both bridell, breake & reyne. 1552 Huloet, Brake, or sharpe snaffle for a horse. 1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 187 The brake within the riders hande, Doth strayne the horse. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. III. 819 Many..lost their lives to shake off this most rough brake. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 94 Hardir brakes doe breake the mouth too much. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. |
▪ VI. brake, n.6
[Origin, possible connexion with prec., and sequence of senses uncertain.]
† 1. A cage of iron or wooden bars; a trap; fig. a snare, difficulty, dilemma. Obs.
| a 1529 Skelton Elynour Rum. 325 It was a stale to take The devyl in a brake. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke Pref. 6 b, So should I in this matier stand in a streight brake. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius i. 10 Because of hys fercenes, kept him [Bucephalus] within a brake of iron barres. 1572 Forrest Theoph. 1022 No more he myndede to come in his [the Devil's] brake. 1625 Burges Pers. Tithes 79 He..sought to wind himselfe out of the brakes of Tithes due by Diuine Right. 1640 Shirley Opportunity (N.) He is fallen into some brake, some wench has tied him by the legs. |
2. A framework intended to hold anything steady; a frame in which a horse's foot is placed when being shod; also in Ship-building (see quot.).
| 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. v. (1623) K ij, Then make a Brake behind the stoole of foure stakes, 2 two foot, and 2 foure feet long. 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. xx. 436 The plate is heated and bent to the form of the bed or brake. |
† b. fig. to set one's face in a brake: to assume an immovable expression of countenance. Obs.
| 1607 Chapman Bussy D'Amb. Plays 1873 II. 8 Or (like a Strumpet) learne to set my lookes In an eternal Brake. 1608 ― Byrons Trag. ibid. II. 280 See in how graue a Brake he sets his vizard. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. vi. (1616) 583 Some..that, haue their faces set in a brake! |
† 3. An instrument of torture; a rack. Obs. exc. Hist. [Perh. this belongs rather to brake n.3]
| 1530 Palsgr. 463/1, I brake on a brake, or payne banke. 1539 T. Cromwell in St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 602, I am advised..to go the Toure, and see hym sett in the brakes. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xiii. 301 A daughter of the Duke of Exeter invented a brake or cruel rack. 1720 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) I. i. xiv. 66/2 The Brake or rack, commonly called the Duke of Exeter's daughter because he was the deviser of that torture. 1855 Browning Ch. Roland xxiv, That wheel, Or brake..that harrow fit to reel Men's bodies out like silk? |
† 4. A turner's lathe. [Perh. a different word.]
| c 1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 50 In..doublet leveled by lyne, Poynted and bottoned as in a brake. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcel. xxxiii. vi. 228 As if the whole space were wrought round by a Turners brake. |
▪ VII. brake, n.7
(breɪk)
Also break.
[Etymology uncertain; prob. an application of the sense of ‘lever’ (brake n.4), or perh. of that of ‘curb’ (brake n.5); since F. frein, It. freno, literally ‘bridle’, are used in this sense. This being so, the spelling break would be due to ‘popular etymology’, because it ‘breaks’ the motion.]
1. An apparatus for retarding the motion of a wheel by means of pressure applied to the circumference; usually consisting of a wooden block or an iron or steel band, and of a lever for pressing it against the tire. Also fig. of any retarding agency.
| α 1772–82 W. Bailey Machines Soc. Arts I. 149 Z, Which occasionally draws down the brake on the periphery of the walking wheel. 1792 Trans. Soc. Arts X. 233 The means will appear to be the gripe or brake at the top. 1825 N. Wood Railroads 78 The brake or lever, which is called a ‘convoy’. 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 10 Brake..a band of iron caused by a lever to press upon a..wheel. 1863 Tyndall Heat i. 9 The brake is applied, and smoke and sparks issue from the wheel. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. viii. 149 A powerful brake to check his arbitrary action. |
| β 1838 Public Wks. Gt. Brit. 52 That every carriage should be provided with a break. 1839 S. C. Brees Railw. Pract. Gloss. 287 Break or Convoy to Railway Carriages. a hand lever worked by the breaksman. 1862 Macm. Mag, Oct. 455 This loom is fitted with Sellers' ‘break’ for stopping the loom. 1870 Huxley Lay Serm. xi. (1874) 246 To act as a sort of break. |
2. Short for ‘brake-van’.
| 1885 Daily News 5 Feb. 6/3 One of the suspected men..travelled in the guard's brake. |
3. Comb. and attrib., as brake-apparatus, brake-band, brake-bar, brake-beam, brake-block, brake-lever, brake-pedal, brake-power, brake-rod, brake-shoe (see quots.); also brake-compartment, brake-van, or simply brake, the compartment or the carriage in a train which contains the brake apparatus; brake-cylinder (see brake-pipe); brake-drum, a cylinder attached to a wheel or hub, upon which the brake shoe presses; brake fluid, specially formulated liquid for use in hydraulic brakes; brake-gear, the whole braking apparatus of a motor-car or train; brake-handle, a hand lever controlling a brake, taking the place of the usual brake-wheel; brake-horse-power (see horsepower); brake lining, a strip of fabric attached to the face of a brake-shoe to increase friction and provide a renewable surface; brake mean effective pressure (see quot.); brake parachute Aeronaut., a parachute attached to the tail of an aeroplane and opened to serve as a brake; brake-pipe, the pipe of an automatic air-brake, which conveys compressed air to the cylinders operating the brakes of a railway train; brake-strap, a strap which surrounds the pulley of a brake worked by friction; brake-wheel, the wheel by which the brakes are worked.
| 1885 Daily News 5 Feb. 6/3 The spare *brake apparatus..in..the last carriage but one..He saw the man get out of the *break-compartment. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 356/2 The air-pipe under each car makes connection by a branch with..a..*brake-cylinder. |
| 1896 Cosmopolitan XX. 420/1 A *brake-drum of peculiar construction placed under the seat. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 4 June 4/2 Inside the brake-drum..are four stout spiral springs. |
| 1931 R. F. Kuns Automotive Service iii. 200 This cylinder is filled with fluid, usually termed the *brake fluid, composed of alcohol and glycerin or similar nonfreeze liquids. 1959 Motor Man. (ed. 36) viii. 216 Any topping-up must be done only with genuine hydraulic brake fluid. 1978 B. Francis AA Car Duffer's Guide 104 The piston seal is leaking and brake fluid has got on the linings. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 2 Jan. 6/4 It was far more important for a man to look to his *brake gear than to his speed gear. |
| 1902 Ibid. 16 July 8/4 The woman climbed out at the back, using the *brake-handle as a step. |
| 1927 *Brake horsepower [see break mean effective pressure below]. |
| 1903 Daily Chron. 27 Jan. 7/5 *Brake-levers shall be fitted..on both sides of wagons. |
| 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 6 Apr. 6/1 (Advt.), We do more than tell you that Raybestos is good *Brake Lining. 1927 Daily Tel. 11 May 18/6 (Advt.), The well-known Top Dog brake-lining. 1962 Which? (Car Suppl.) Oct. 134/1 The figures for brake lining life..are calculated. |
| 1927 V. W. Pagé Mod. Aircraft (1928) vii. 302 *Brake mean effective pressure—The net unit pressure which, if applied during the power strokes to the pistons of an engine having no mechanical losses, would produce the given brake horsepower at the stated speed. |
| 1942 H. S. Zim Parachutes 251/1 (index) *Brake parachute. |
| 1903 R. J. Mecredy Dict. Motoring 33 The motion of the *brake pedal causes mechanism..to close the two halves inward and grip the brake drum. 1906 D. Leechman Autocar Handbk. xv. 117 In many cars the brake pedal is coupled up to the clutch, so that applying the brake automatically disengages the motor from the driving gear. |
| 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 249/1 The brake can be at once released by restoring the pressure in the *brake-pipe. |
| 1878 F. Williams Midl. Railw. 557 Lest..there should be any deficiency in the *brake power. |
| 1874 Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 357 *Brake-shoe, that part of a brake which is brought in contact with the object whose motion is to be restrained. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 53 The frame..acts, of course, upon the slide⁓pieces..which hold the *brake-strap. 1897 Outing (U.S.) June 262/1 Right thumb on spool of reel, left thumb in leather brake-strap. |
| 1885 Manch. Exam. 15 May 5/7 An invention for coupling and uncoupling railway rolling stock direct from the engine or *brake-van. |
| 1864 Times 30 Dec. He was always in the break-van where the line was on an incline. |
| 1873 B. Stewart Conserv. Force ii. §48 On a dark night sparks are seen to issue from the *break-wheel. |
▪ VIII. brake
variant of brack, small particle.
| 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 87/2 To the last brake of sinister surmises. |
▪ IX. brake
var. of break, a kind of carriage.
▪ X. † brake, a. Obs. rare.
[? f. break v.]
? Fragile.
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 447 Those of Glasse must not be of brake mettall, but of Crystall earth well armed. |
▪ XI. brake, v.1
(breɪk)
Also 7 break, 9 Sc. brack (sense 3).
[f. brake n.3]
1. trans. To beat and crush flax, hemp, etc.
| 1398 [see below]. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §42 But howe it [flax] shulde be sowen..dryed, beaten, braked. 1611 Cotgr., Brayer du lin, to brake, or dresse flax. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Drying, Hemp or Flax..may be spread upon a Kiln..in order to dry it upon the same, and then to brake it. |
2. To break (clods) with a harrow.
| 1800 J. Headrick Com. Board Agric. II. 260 The land [should be] again cross-ploughed..and afterwards braked. |
3. To knead (dough).
| 1832–53 Whistle-binkie in Sc. Songs Ser. iii. 71 My bannock to brack, an' my errand to rin. |
Hence braked ppl. a., ˈbraking vbl. n.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clx. (1495) 708 Wyth moche brakyng, heckelynge and robbyng. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652) 252 Instead of braking..there they altogether pill it. 1653 Walton Angler 107 The body is..bound with black braked-hemp. |
▪ XII. brake, v.2 Obs.
[f. brake n.6 3]
To torture on the ‘brake’ or rack; to rack.
| 1530 Palsgr. 463 The false murdrer was braked thrise or ever he would confess the trouthe. |
▪ XIII. † brake, v.3 Obs. rare.
[Cf. brack n.5: perhaps ad. early It. bracare, or braccare: Florio (1611) has ‘Braccare, to bracke or mount ordinance’; and ‘Bracare, to breech; also to bind about with iron plates; also to stocke a piece’.]
trans. To mount (cannon); cf. brack n.5
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. i. 35 Cannons..were braked and planted with an incredible diligence. Ibid. iv. 151 After he had braked his artillerie. Ibid. (1618) 363 Against the which place, they within the towne..braked a great peece. |
▪ XIV. brake, v.4
[f. brake n.4]
intr. To attend to a winding engine. Hence ˈbraking vbl. n.
| 1857 Smiles Stephenson iii. 17 Paying some attention to the art of brakeing. 1862 ― Engineers III. 32 Young Stephenson couldn't brake, and..never would learn to brake, he was so clumsy. |
▪ XV. brake, v.5
(breɪk)
[f. brake n.7]
1. trans. To apply a brake to (a wheel); also transf.
| 1868 Daily News 3 Sept., The kicked-off waggons were braked. 1881 Palgrave Visions of Eng. 23 Earth her pace..delays, Braked by the tides. |
2. intr. To be checked by a brake. Also with up.
| 1891 E. S. Ellis Check 2134 ii. 13 He felt the train braking up for the Station. 1937 J. Squire Honeysuckle & Bee 149 A car suddenly braked to a standstill outside the door. |
▪ XVI. † brake, v.6 Obs.
Also Sc. braik.
[perh. repr. an unrecorded OE. *bracian, f. bræc, which occurs in the sense of ‘phlegm, mucus, saliva’; cf. ODu. braeken, MLG. and mod.Du. braken to vomit; allied to break (cf. Ger. sich brechen).]
trans. and intr. To spue, vomit.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 340 And þer he brakez up the buyrne [Jonah], as bede hym oure lorde. 1388 Wyclif Prov. xxiii. 8 Thou schalt brake out [1382 spewen out] the metis, whiche thou hast ete. 1393 Langl. P. Pl, C. vii. 431 And as an hounde þat et gras, so gan ich to brake. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 47 Brakyn, or castyn or spewe, vomo. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 624, I lay braikand lyk a brok. Ibid. 4357. |
¶ Cf. to break wind: see break v. 47.
Hence ˈbraking, vbl. n.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cvi. (1495) 669 Mynte of gardens abateth wyth vynegre brakynge and castyng that comyth of feblynes of the vertue retentyf. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 47 Brakynge or parbrakynge, vomitus. 1768 Ross Helenore 56 (Jam.) That gut and ga' she keest with braking strange. |
▪ XVII. brake
(breɪk)
arch. pa. tense of break.