Brake (meanings) - Revision history

DavidWalker at 11:16, 4 November 2021

2021-11-04T11:16:57Z

PeterWilson at 17:42, 8 August 2020

2020-08-08T17:42:36Z

DavidWalker at 11:08, 8 August 2020

2020-08-08T11:08:28Z

PeterWilson at 18:01, 6 August 2020

2020-08-06T18:01:39Z

PeterWilson at 22:40, 6 April 2013

2013-04-06T22:40:43Z

PeterWilson at 21:21, 6 April 2013

2013-04-06T21:21:04Z

PeterWilson at 16:32, 4 April 2013

2013-04-04T16:32:28Z

PeterWilson at 16:30, 4 April 2013

2013-04-04T16:30:42Z

PeterWilson at 12:35, 4 April 2013

2013-04-04T12:35:24Z

PeterWilson at 09:46, 2 April 2013

2013-04-02T09:46:45Z

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-The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and break]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare''), whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.
+The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and break]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare''), whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.)
 *Users of AWE such as students of literature or history, who may come across some of the other, less current, meanings of these words may like to consult the following on some of the less familiar meanings. For a comprehensive view of all of them, see ''[[OED]]'', or another good historical dictionary.
 **'''Brake''' was the standard [[past tense]] form of the irregular verb 'to '''[[Break (irregular verb)|break]]'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>, which is now always '''broke''', until [[Early Modern English]]. For example, the [[Authorized Version]] (1611) translates (Mark, 14, 22-4) about the [[Last Supper]], "Jesus took bread, and blessed, and '''brake''' it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body."

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and break]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare''), whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.
-*Users of AWE such as students of literature or history, who may come cross some of the other, less current, meanings of these words may like to consult the following on some of the less familiar meanings. For a comprehensive view of all of them, see ''[[OED]]'', or another good historical dictionary.
+*Users of AWE such as students of literature or history, who may come across some of the other, less current, meanings of these words may like to consult the following on some of the less familiar meanings. For a comprehensive view of all of them, see ''[[OED]]'', or another good historical dictionary.
 **'''Brake''' was the standard [[past tense]] form of the irregular verb 'to '''[[Break (irregular verb)|break]]'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>, which is now always '''broke''', until [[Early Modern English]]. For example, the [[Authorized Version]] (1611) translates (Mark, 14, 22-4) about the [[Last Supper]], "Jesus took bread, and blessed, and '''brake''' it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body."
 **A '''brake''' (noun) can be:

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and break]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare'', whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.
+The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and break]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare''), whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.
 *Users of AWE such as students of literature or history, who may come cross some of the other, less current, meanings of these words may like to consult the following on some of the less familiar meanings. For a comprehensive view of all of them, see ''[[OED]]'', or another good historical dictionary.
 **'''Brake''' was the standard [[past tense]] form of the irregular verb 'to '''[[Break (irregular verb)|break]]'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>, which is now always '''broke''', until [[Early Modern English]]. For example, the [[Authorized Version]] (1611) translates (Mark, 14, 22-4) about the [[Last Supper]], "Jesus took bread, and blessed, and '''brake''' it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body."
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ***a minimal chassis with four wheels, used to '''break''' (tame, or discipline) a horse to work with wagons, chariots, carriages etc. A '''shooting brake''', a later development from this, was a wagonette with two benches facing each other used to take shooting parties to their stations, and later an early name for the motor car known as an 'estate car' in British English, and 'station wagon' in American English.
 ***a form of bridle or curb, used (as above) for '''break'''ing horses; later specifically a hinged instrument clamping the nose of a horse to quieten it. The word was later used as a name for the rack, the instrument of torture. This development is paralleled in 'barnacle', a diminutive of the Old French ''bernac'', a form of pincers for the nose of a horse, then a form of pincers for torture of human prisoners applied to nose, tongue etc (and finally a slang term for spectacles).
-***a cage or ([[figuratively]] a trap; later a framework such as one to hold a horse's leg steady for shoeing, or to hold a hot metal plate while being shaped in a  shipbuilding yard. It may be thia meaning that in the sixteenth century came to be used as a name for the rack.
+***a cage or [[figuratively]] a trap; later a framework such as one to hold a horse's leg steady for shoeing, or to hold a hot metal plate while being shaped in a  shipbuilding yard. It may be this meaning that in the sixteenth century came to be used as a name for the rack.
 [[Category:disambig]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and brake]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have beeen influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare'', whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.
+The word '''brake''' exists as an [[adjective]], a [[noun]] and a [[verb]]. The general meaning of all of them in current English is usually 'slow down' or 'stop', but over history, the spellings '''brake''' and '''break''' have both been used for some six other [[noun]]s, one [[adjective]] and five [[verb]]s with the principal spelling '''brake''' listed in ''[[OED]]'' and for the two nouns and one verb with the current spelling '''break''' (~ 'fracture'), for  which see [[Break (meanings)|break (meanings)]]. For example, of two meanings recorded in ''[[OED]]'' (1888) for the derived noun '''breakage''' , the first, "The action of a brake in stopping a train", is listed under the headword '''brakeage | breakage, ''n.'''''; the second - current - meaning, "the action or fact of breaking" (only listed as '''breakage'''), is not recorded before 1813. (Some writers confuse the [[homophone]]s [[brake - break|brake and break]]. This is an error in current English. Because of this homophony, several of the meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by the meaning of '''break''' - the [[adjective]] '''brake''' (''Obs[olete] rare'', whose [[etymology]] in ''[[OED]]'' is " ? < break ''v.''", means 'fragile', or <nowiki>'</nowiki>'''break'''able'.
-*Users of AWE such as students of literature or history, who may come cross some of the other, less current, meanings of these words may like to the following on some of the less familiar meanings. For a comprehensive view of all of them, see ''[[OED]]'', or another good historical dictionary.
+*Users of AWE such as students of literature or history, who may come cross some of the other, less current, meanings of these words may like to consult the following on some of the less familiar meanings. For a comprehensive view of all of them, see ''[[OED]]'', or another good historical dictionary.
 **'''Brake''' was the standard [[past tense]] form of the irregular verb 'to '''[[Break (irregular verb)|break]]'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>, which is now always '''broke''', until [[Early Modern English]]. For example, the [[Authorized Version]] (1611) translates (Mark, 14, 22-4) about the [[Last Supper]], "Jesus took bread, and blessed, and '''brake''' it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body."
 **A '''brake''' (noun) can be:

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ***a toothed instrument used for '''braking''' flax or hemp, etc (separating the useful fibres from the woody stems), kneading bread etc, or harrowing clods after ploughing. This is a case where '''brake''' (as noun and verb) and '''break''' are confused, as can be seen in "The retted stems are rinsed and dried before '''break'''ing them with a flax-'''brake'''", from the 'Spinning & Weaving with Natural Fibres' website [[http://www.wildfibres.co.uk/html/linen_flax.html]].
 ***a lever or handle, as in the winch of a crossbow (historically a 'bow of brake'); the handle of a pump; or part of a boring machine used in coal-mines.
-***a minimal chassis with four wheels, used to '''break''' (tame, or discipline) a horse to work with wagons, chariots, carriages etc. A '''shooting brake''', a later development from this, was a wagonette with two benches facing each other used to take shooting parties to their stations, and later an early name for the motor car known as an 'estate car' (in British English) and 'station wagon' in American English.
+***a minimal chassis with four wheels, used to '''break''' (tame, or discipline) a horse to work with wagons, chariots, carriages etc. A '''shooting brake''', a later development from this, was a wagonette with two benches facing each other used to take shooting parties to their stations, and later an early name for the motor car known as an 'estate car' in British English, and 'station wagon' in American English.
-***
+***a form of bridle or curb, used (as above) for '''break'''ing horses; later specifically a hinged instrument clamping the nose of a horse to quieten it. The word was later used as a name for the rack, the instrument of torture. This development is paralleled in 'barnacle', a diminutive of the Old French ''bernac'', a form of pincers for the nose of a horse, then a form of pincers for torture of human prisoners applied to nose, tongue etc (and finally a slang term for spectacles).
+***a cage or ([[figuratively]] a trap; later a framework such as one to hold a horse's leg steady for shoeing, or to hold a hot metal plate while being shaped in a  shipbuilding yard. It may be thia meaning that in the sixteenth century came to be used as a name for the rack.
 [[Category:disambig]]

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 ***a form of '''bracken''' (now obsolete and [[dialect]]) , with which it may be [[cognate]]. This may perhaps be the same word as
 ***a clump of bushes, or thicket;
-Several meanings of '''brake''' seem to have been influenced by '''break''', including:
+Several meanings of '''brake''' refer to tools,  or parts of tools. Some seem to have been influenced by '''break''', including:
 ***a toothed instrument used for '''braking''' flax or hemp, etc (separating the useful fibres from the woody stems), kneading bread etc, or harrowing clods after ploughing. This is a case where '''brake''' (as noun and verb) and '''break''' are confused, as can be seen in "The retted stems are rinsed and dried before '''break'''ing them with a flax-'''brake'''", from the 'Spinning & Weaving with Natural Fibres' website [[http://www.wildfibres.co.uk/html/linen_flax.html]].
 ***a lever or handle, as in the winch of a crossbow (historically a 'bow of brake'); the handle of a pump; or part of a boring machine used in coal-mines.

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 [[Category:etymological curiosities]]
 [[Category:clarification of meanings]]
-AmE
+[[Category:AmE]]