From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
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"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Brake \Brake\ (br[=a]k),
imp. of Break. [Arhaic] --Tennyson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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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