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Brace vs Splint - What's the difference?

brace | splint | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between brace and splint

is that brace is armor for the arm; vambrace while splint is a narrow strip of wood split or peeled off of a larger piece.

As verbs the difference between brace and splint

is that brace is to prepare for something bad, as an impact or blow while splint is to apply a splint to; to fasten with splints.

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

    * ----

    splint

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A narrow strip of wood split or peeled off of a larger piece.
  • (medicine) A device to immobilize a body part.
  • 1900' ''But it so happened that I had a man in the hospital at the time, and going there to see about him the day before the opening of the Inquiry, I saw in the white men's ward that little chap tossing on his back, with his arm in '''splints , and quite light-headed.'' Joseph Conrad, ''Lord Jim , Chapter 5.
  • A dental device applied consequent to undergoing orthodontia.
  • A segment of armor.
  • 1819 The fore-part of his thighs, where the folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, were also covered with linked mail; the knees and feet were defended by ''splints'' , or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon each other; and mail hose, reaching from the ankle to the knee, effectually protected the legs, and completed the rider's defensive armour.'' — Walter Scott, ''Ivanhoe , Chapter 1.
  • A bone found on either side of the horse's cannon bone; second or fourth metacarpal (forelimb) or metatarsal (hindlimb) bone.
  • A disease affecting the splint bones, as a callosity or hard excrescence.
  • splent coal
  • Usage notes

    * For a horse to (term) is for it to receive an injury to the splint bone or surrounding area.

    Derived terms

    * shin splint

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To apply a splint to; to fasten with splints.
  • To support one's abdomen with hands or a pillow before attempting to cough.
  • (obsolete, rare, transitive) To split into thin, slender pieces; to splinter.
  • (Florio)