HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

brake¹

(brāk)

1. A device for slowing or stopping motion, as of a vehicle, especially by contact friction.

2. Something that slows or stops action.

v. braked, brak·ing, brakes

v.tr.

To reduce the speed of with or as if with a brake.

v.intr.

1. To operate or apply a brake.

2. To be slowed or stopped by or as if by the operation of a brake.

[Early Modern English brake, bridle, curb (for a horse), perhaps from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German, nose ring, curb, flax brake; see BRAKE².]

brake²

(brāk)

1. A toothed device for crushing and beating flax or hemp.

2. A heavy harrow for breaking clods of earth.

3. An apparatus for kneading large amounts of dough.

4. A machine for bending and folding sheet metal.

tr.v. braked, brak·ing, brakes

1. To crush (flax or hemp) in a toothed device.

2. To break up (clods of earth) with a harrow.

[Middle English, from Middle Dutch, from Middle Low German; see bhreg- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

brake³

(brāk)

A lever or handle on a machine such as a pump.

[Middle English, from Old French brac, from oblique form of bras, arm; see BRACER².]

brake⁴

(brāk)

1. Any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately compound leaves and including several popular houseplants.

2. Any of certain other ferns, such as bracken.

[Middle English, probably back-formation from braken; see BRACKEN.]

brake⁵

(brāk)

An area overgrown with dense brushwood, briers, and undergrowth; a thicket.

[Middle English, from Middle Low German; see bhreg- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

brake⁶

(brāk)

n. also break

A high horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.

v.
Archaic

A past tense of break.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

American Heritage Dictionary Products

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

THE USAGE PANEL

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

American Heritage Dictionary Products