Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA 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.
nounA 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
Sentence Examples
The Representative said he will put a brake on spending.
Press the brake pedal to turn on your brake lights.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Seeing the child run into the street, the driver slammed on the ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I had to hit the ____ quickly when the cat ran out into the street.
Word Origin & History
Origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German brake (“nose ring, curb, flax brake”), which according to Watkins is related to sense 4 and from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler."
— 1950 November 26, “Mixed-Traffic Diesel-Electric Locomotives for Ireland”, in Railway Magazine, page 781:
"You shall kneade[…]first with handes‥lastly with the brake."
— 1617, Gervase Markham, Cavalarice the English Horseman:
"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., →OCLC:
"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:
"Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, / To shelter thee from tempest and from rain."
— 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC: