Meanwhile, banks in some states put a brake on foreclosure due to litigation.
As the planet rotates, the water in the oceans moves about and serves to brake the spin of the planet.
She is also author of I brake for Yard Sales, a New York Times bestseller about interior design from Abrams Books.
Next, the mostly neural job of getting foot to brake demanded another 500 milliseconds.
A large ball rolls out into the street, too close for you to brake.
Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him.
Then Father Wetherell would take it down and brake it in the brake.
Weaver came to himself a bit and grabbed frantically for brake and throttle and steering-wheel all at once, it looked like.
The steam is turned off, and the guard puts on what he calls "the brake."
"He's been fattening up on Flying U calves," remarked Chip, his foot upon the brake.
mid-15c., "instrument for crushing or pounding," from Middle Dutch braeke "flax brake," from breken "to break" (see break (v.)). The word was applied to many crushing implements and to the ring through the nose of a draught ox. It was influenced in sense by Old French brac, a form of bras "an arm," thus "a lever or handle," which was being used in English from late 14c., and applied to "a bridle or curb" from early 15c. One or the other or both took up the main modern meaning of "stopping device for a wheel," first attested 1772.
kind of fern, early 14c.; see bracken.
"to apply a brake to a wheel," 1868, from brake (n.1). Earlier, "to beat flax" (late 14c.). Related: Braked; braking.
Old English brecan "to break, shatter, burst; injure, violate, destroy, curtail; break into, rush into; burst forth, spring out; subdue, tame" (class IV strong verb; past tense bræc, past participle brocen), from Proto-Germanic *brekan (cf. Old Frisian breka, Dutch breken, Old High German brehhan, German brechen, Gothic brikan), from PIE root *bhreg- "to break" (see fraction). Most modern senses were in Old English. In reference to the heart from early 13c. Meaning "to disclose" is from early 13c.
Break bread "share food" (with) is from late 14c. Break the ice is c.1600, in reference to the "coldness" of encounters of strangers. Break wind first attested 1550s. To break (something) out (1890s) probably is an image from dock work, of freeing cargo before unloading it. Ironic theatrical good luck formula break a leg has parallels in German Hals- und Beinbruch "break your neck and leg," and Italian in bocca al lupo. Evidence of a highly superstitious craft (cf. Macbeth).
c.1300, "act of breaking," from break (v.). Sense of "short interval between spells of work" (originally between lessons at school) is from 1861. Meaning "stroke of luck" is attested by 1911, probably an image from billiards (where the break that starts the game is attested from 1865). Meaning "stroke of mercy" is from 1914. Musical sense, "improvised passage, solo" is attested from 1920s in jazz.