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Brace vs Lock - What's the difference?

brace | lock |

As a noun brace

is (obsolete) armor for the arm; vambrace.

As a verb brace

is (intransitive) to prepare for something bad, as an impact or blow.

As a proper noun lock is

.

brace

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) Armor for the arm; vambrace.
  • (obsolete) A measurement of length, originally representing a person's outstretched arms.
  • A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.
  • That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
  • A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension.
  • A thong used to regulate the tension of a drum.
  • * Derham
  • The little bones of the ear drum do in straining and relaxing it as the braces of the war drum do in that.
  • The state of being braced or tight; tension.
  • * Holder
  • the laxness of the tympanum, when it has lost its brace or tension
  • Harness; warlike preparation.
  • * Shakespeare
  • for that it stands not in such warlike brace
  • (typography) A curved, pointed line, also known as "curly bracket": { or } connecting two or more words or lines, which are to be considered together, such as in ; in music, used to connect staves.
  • A pair, a couple; originally used of dogs, and later of animals generally and then other things, but rarely human persons. (The plural in this sense is unchanged.) In British use (as plural ), this is a particularly common reference to game birds.
  • * 1610 , , act 5 scene 1
  • But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
    I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,
    And justify you traitors
  • * Addison
  • He is said to have shot fifty brace of pheasants.
  • * Fuller
  • A brace of brethren, both bishops, both eminent for learning and religion, now appeared in the church.
  • A piece of material used to transmit, or change the direction of, weight or pressure; any one of the pieces, in a frame or truss, which divide the structure into triangular parts. It may act as a tie, or as a strut, and serves to prevent distortion of the structure, and transverse strains in its members. A boiler brace is a diagonal stay, connecting the head with the shell.
  • (nautical) A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.
  • (UK, Cornwall, mining) The mouth of a shaft.
  • (mostly, in the plural) Straps or bands to sustain trousers; suspenders.
  • (mostly, in the plural) A system of wires, brackets, and elastic bands used to correct crooked teeth or to reduce overbite.
  • (soccer) Two goals scored by one player in a game.
  • Verb

    (brac)
  • (intransitive) To prepare for something bad, as an impact or blow.
  • All hands, brace for impact!
    Brace yourself!
  • *
  • The boy has no idea about everything that's been going on. You need to brace him for what's about to happen.
  • To place in a position for resisting pressure; to hold firmly.
  • He braced himself against the crowd.
  • * Fairfax
  • A sturdy lance in his right hand he braced .
  • (nautical) To swing round the yards of a square rigged ship, using braces, to present a more efficient sail surface to the direction of the wind
  • to brace the yards
  • To stop someone for questioning, usually said of police.
  • To confront with questions, demands or requests.
  • To furnish with braces; to support; to prop.
  • to brace a beam in a building
  • To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen.
  • to brace the nerves
  • * Campbell
  • And welcome war to brace her drums.
  • To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly.
  • * John Locke
  • The women of China, by bracing and binding them from their infancy, have very little feet.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • some who spurs had first braced on

    Anagrams

    * ----

    lock

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.
  • * 1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)
  • "Give me the key," said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.
  • *, chapter=13
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock .}}
  • A mutex or other token restricting access to a resource.
  • * 2005 , Karl Kopper, The Linux Enterprise Cluster
  • the application must first acquire a lock on a file or a portion of a file before reading data and modifying it.
  • A segment of a canal or other waterway enclosed by gates, used for raising and lowering boats between levels.
  • * 1846 , (William Makepeace Thackeray), Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo
  • Here the canal came to a check, ending abruptly with a large lock .
  • The firing mechanism of a gun.
  • * 1837 , (Charles Dickens), (The Pickwick Papers)
  • "I never saw such a gun in my life," replied poor Winkle, looking at the lock , as if that would do any good.
  • Complete control over a situation.
  • * 2003 , (Charley Rosen), The Wizard of Odds
  • Even though he had not yet done so, Jack felt he had a lock on the game.
  • Something sure to be a success.
  • * 2004 , (Avery Corman), A perfect divorce
  • Brian thinks she's a lock to get a scholarship somewhere.
  • (label) A player in the scrum behind the front row, usually the tallest members of the team.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=Septembe 24, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania , passage=Ashton only had to wait three minutes for his second try, lock Louis Deacon setting it up with a rollocking line-break, before Romania got on the scoreboard courtesy of a penalty from fly-half Marin Danut Dumbrava. }}
  • A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
  • * (Thomas De Quincey) (1785-1859)
  • Albemarle Street closed by a lock of carriages
  • A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock.
  • (Dryden)
  • A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
  • A grapple in wrestling.
  • (Milton)
    Derived terms
    * alcolock * ankle lock * anti-lock * caps lock * flash lock * flat lock * flintlock * genlock * gridlock * leglock * liplock * lockfast * lock time * * lockbox * lockmaster * locknote * locksmithing * lockstep * matchlock * num lock * overlock * padlock * picklock * scroll lock * staircase lock * tide lock * time lock

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To become fastened in place.
  • *, chapter=13
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked , of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.}}
  • (label) To fasten with a lock.
  • (label) To be capable of becoming fastened in place.
  • (label) To intertwine or dovetail.
  • To freeze one's body or a part thereof in place.
  • To furnish (a canal) with locks.
  • To raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
  • Antonyms
    * unlock
    Derived terms
    * lock and load * lock horns * lock in * lock lips * lock on * lock out * lock up * lockable * relock * unlockable

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m). Cognate with (etyl) (m) (whence (etyl) (m)), (etyl) (m). It has been theorised that the word may be related to the (etyl) verb in its ancient meaning to curb .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • tuft or length of hair
  • *
  • If I consent to burn them, will you promise faithfully neither to send nor receive a letter again, nor a book (for I perceive you have sent him books), nor locks of hair, nor rings, nor playthings?
    Derived terms
    * daglock * elflock * forelock * goldilocks * sidelock