.

Brake in Oldenburg must be distinguished from the village of the same
name in the principality of Lippe, known as Brake bei Limgo, which gave
its name to the cadet line of the counts of Lippe-Brake (1621-1709).

BRAKE. (1) A term for rough-tangled undergrowth, connected, according to
the _New English Dictionary_, with "break," to separate. The
"brake-fern" (_Pteris aquilina_) is the common "bracken," and is a
shortened form of that northern Eng. word, derived from a Scand. word
for "fern" (cf. Swed. _braken_), though often confused with "brake,"
undergrowth. (2) A term applied to many implements and mechanical and
other appliances, often spelled "break." Here there are probably several
words, difficult to separate in origin, connected either with "break,"
to separate, and its derived meanings, or with the Fr. _braquer_
(appearing in such expressions as _braquer un canon_, to turn or point a
gun), from O. Fr. _brac_, modern _bras_, an arm, Lat. _bracchium_. The
word is thus used of a toothed instrument for separating the fibre of
flax and hemp; of the "break-rolls" employed in flour manufacture; of a
heavy wheeled vehicle used for "breaking in" horses, and hence of a
large carriage of the wagonette type; of an arm or lever, and so of the
winch of a crossbow and of a pump handle, cf. "brake-pump"; of a curb or
bridle for a horse; and of a mechanical appliance for checking the speed
of moving vehicles, &c. It is noteworthy that the two last meanings are
also possessed by the Fr. _frein_ and the Ger. _Bremse_.

Brakes, in engineering, are instruments by means of which mechanical
energy may be expended in overcoming friction. They are used for two
main classes of purpose: (1) to limit or decrease the velocity of a
moving body, or to bring it completely to rest; and (2) to measure
directly the amount of frictional resistance between two bodies, or
indirectly the amount of energy given out by a body or bodies in motion.
Machines in which brakes are employed for purposes of the second class
are commonly known as dynamometers (q.v.). The other class is
exemplified in the brakes used on wheeled vehicles and on cranes, lifts,
&c. Here a body, or system of bodies, originally at rest, has been set
in motion and has received acceleration up to a certain velocity, the
work which has been done in that acceleration being stored up as "actual
energy" in the body itself. Before the body can be brought to rest it
must part with