brake

BRAKE, participle passive of break. [See Break.] BRAKE, noun [Latin erica; Gr. to break.] 1. brake is a name given to fern, or rather to the female fern, a species of cryptogamian plants, of the genus Pteris, whose fructification is in lines under the margin of the leaf or frond. 2. A place overgrown with brake 3. A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles. 4. In the U. States, a thicket of canes, as a cane-brake; but I believe used only in composition. BRAKE, noun [See Break.] An instrument to break flax or hemp. 1. The handle or lever by which a pump is worked; that is, brac, brachium, an arm. 2. A baker's kneading trough. 3. A sharp bit, or snaffle. 4. A machine for confining refractory horses, while the smith is shoeing them. 5. That part of the carriage of a movable battery or engine which enables it to turn. 6. A large heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; called also a drag.