brake

Plural: brakes

Noun

• a restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle
• any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately compound leaves and including several popular houseplants
• large coarse fern often several feet high; essentially weed ferns; cosmopolitan
• an area thickly overgrown usually with one kind of plant
• 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"
• 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.
• 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.
• The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.
• An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
• An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
• The winch of a crossbow.
• The handle of a pump.
• A baker’s kneading trough.
• A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
• A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing it.
• A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
• An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
• A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
• A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.ᵂ
• A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
• A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.ᵂ
• That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
• Certain ferns, including
• Any fern in the genus Pteris.
• Certain ferns, including
• Bracken (Pteridium spp.).
• A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.
• A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)
• A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth after ploughing; a drag.
• A tool used for breaking flax or hemp.
• A cage.
• A type of torture instrument.

Verb

Verb Forms: braked, braking, brakes

• To slow or stop the motion of something using a device.
• stop travelling by applying a brake
  • "We had to brake suddenly when a chicken crossed the road"
• cause to stop by applying the brakes
  • "brake the car before you go into a curve"
• To operate a brake or brakes.
• To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.
• To bruise and crush; to knead.
• To pulverise with a harrow.
• simple past of break

Examples

• Give the car a quick brake.
• He had to BRAKE his enthusiastic word choices when his opponent started challenging everything.
• She slammed the brakes when she saw a child run in front of the car.
• The farmer’s son brakes the flax while mother brakes the bread dough
• You’re pressing the brakes too hard—try just squeezing them.

Synonyms

bracken, pasture brake, Pteridium aquilinum, cataract, swipe, trave

Antonyms

accelerate, floor it, put the pedal to the metal, redline

Related Words

hackle, ripple, scutch, swingle