BRAKE
What does "BRAKE" mean?
A device for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle or machine.
Meanings
- A mechanism that slows or stops motion, usually by friction. She slammed on the brake when the deer stepped onto the road.
- To slow or stop by applying such a device. He braked hard at the corner and the tires squealed.
- Something that restrains or checks progress. Rising costs acted as a brake on the company's expansion. figurative
- A thicket of bracken, brushwood, or rough ground. The fox vanished into a brake of thorny scrub. archaic
Word origin
The 'stopping device' sense likely comes from Middle Dutch 'braeke', a tool for crushing flax; the 'thicket' sense is from a separate Old English root meaning bracken or brushwood.
Remember it
A BRAKE keeps you from a BREAK: same sound, opposite spelling - brakE saves you, brEAK costs you.
A little poem
The pedal sinks, the world slows down to wait-
what saves a life is knowing when to brake.
couplet
Wordplay
- I told my car to take a break, so it stopped working - turns out I should have said brake.
What it teaches
Knowing how to stop is not the opposite of progress; it is what makes speed survivable.
Quick facts
What does BRAKE mean?
A device for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle or machine.
Is BRAKE a valid word?
Yes — BRAKE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is BRAKE?
BRAKE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does BRAKE come from?
The 'stopping device' sense likely comes from Middle Dutch 'braeke', a tool for crushing flax; the 'thicket' sense is from a separate Old English root meaning bracken or brushwood.
What can BRAKE teach us?
Knowing how to stop is not the opposite of progress; it is what makes speed survivable.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.