Definition of "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.

1. The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle  examples

2. (engineering) 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.  examples

3. (figuratively) Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.  examples

(military) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.

1. (obsolete) The winch of a crossbow.

(chiefly nautical) The handle of a pump.  examples

A baker's kneading trough.  quotations  examples

A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.

1. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him.  examples

2. An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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

3. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.  examples

4. A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

   • 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

That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.  examples

(intransitive) To operate (a) brake(s).  examples

(intransitive) To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.  examples

A fern; bracken (Pteridium).  examples

Any fern in the genus Pteris  examples

A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.  quotations  examples

(textiles) A tool used for breaking flax or hemp.  examples

A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See wikipedia.)  examples

A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after ploughing; a drag.  examples

(transitive) To bruise and crush; to knead  examples

(transitive) To pulverise with a harrow  examples

(obsolete) A cage.

(now historical) A type of torture instrument.  quotations

(archaic) simple past of break  quotations