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Brake vs Curb - What's the difference?

brake | curb |

In transitive terms the difference between brake and curb

is that brake is to pulverise with a harrow while curb is to bend or curve.

In intransitive terms the difference between brake and curb

is that brake is to be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking while curb is to crouch; to cringe.

brake

English

(brake)

Etymology 1

Apparently a shortened form of (bracken). (Compare (chick), (chicken).)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fern; bracken.
  • Etymology 2

    Compare Middle Low German brake.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A thicket, or an area overgrown with briers etc.
  • *
  • He halts, and searches with his eyes
    Among the scatter'd rocks:
    And now at distance can discern
    A stirring in a brake of fern
  • * Shakespeare
  • Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, / To shelter thee from tempest and from rain.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • He stayed not for brake , and he stopped not for stone.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) braeke.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tool used for breaking flax or hemp.
  • A type of machine for bending sheet metal. (See .)
  • A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after ploughing; a drag.
  • Verb

    (brak)
  • To bruise and crush; to knead
  • The farmer's son brakes''' the flax while mother ' brakes the bread dough
  • To pulverise with a harrow
  • Derived terms
    * brakeage

    Etymology 4

    Origin uncertain.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista.
  • # (label) The winch of a crossbow.
  • The handle of a pump.
  • A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, by friction; also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.
  • # The act of braking, of using a brake to slow down a machine or vehicle
  • # (label) An apparatus for testing the power of a steam engine or other motor by weighing the amount of friction that the motor will overcome; a friction brake.
  • # (label) Something used to retard or stop some action, process etc.
  • A baker's kneading trough.
  • (Johnson)
  • A device used to confine or prevent the motion of an animal.
  • # A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him.
  • # An enclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc.
  • #* 1868 , March 7, The Illustrated London News , number 1472, volume 52, “Law and Police”, page 223:
  • He was shooting, and the field where the [cock-fighting] ring was verged on the shooting-brake where the rabbits were.
  • #* J. Brende
  • A horseand because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of iron bars.
  • # A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses.
  • # A carriage for transporting shooting parties and their equipment.(w)
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=It had been arranged as part of the day's programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake .}}
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1976, author=(Terrance Dicks)
  • , title=, chapter=1, page=11 , passage=A few moments later they heard the sound of an engine, and a muddy shooting brake appeared on the road behind them.}}
  • That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn.
  • Derived terms
    * air brake * antilock brake * brake band * brake disc * brake drum * brake fluid * brake harrow * brake horsepower * brake lining * brakeman, brakesman * brake drum * brake pad * brake van * brake wheel * brakey * caliper brake * disc brake * emergency brake * foot brake * hand brake * parking brake * press brake
    Descendants
    * Portuguese:

    Verb

    (brak)
  • To operate (a) brake(s).
  • To be stopped or slowed (as if) by braking.
  • Etymology 5

    Origin uncertain.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A cage.
  • * 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 83:
  • Methods of applying pain were many and ingenious, in particular the ways of twisting, stretching and manipulating the body out of shape, normally falling under the catch-all term of the rack, or the brakes .

    Etymology 6

    Inflected forms.

    Verb

    (head)
  • (lb) (break)
  • * Exodus 32:3, KJV:
  • And all the people brake off the golden earrings

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    curb

    English

    Alternative forms

    * kerb (British)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (North America) A row of concrete along the edge of a road; a kerb (UK )
  • A raised margin along the edge of something, such as a well or the eye of a dome, as a strengthening.
  • Something that checks or restrains; a restraint.
  • * Denham
  • By these men, religion, that should be / The curb , is made the spur of tyranny.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=April 19 , author=Josh Halliday , title=Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised? , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=She maintains that the internet should face similar curbs to TV because young people are increasingly living online. "It's totally different, someone at Google watching the video from the comfort of their office in San Francisco to someone from a council house in London, where this video is happening right outside their front door."}}
  • A riding or driving bit for a horse that has rein action which amplifies the pressure in the mouth by leverage advantage placing pressure on the poll via the crown piece of the bridle and chin groove via a curb chain.
  • * Drayton
  • He that before ran in the pastures wild / Felt the stiff curb control his angry jaws.
  • (North America) A sidewalk, covered or partially enclosed, bordering the airport terminal road system with an adjacent paved areas to permit vehicles to off-load or load passengers.
  • A swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse, just behind the lowest part of the hock joint, generally causing lameness.
  • Derived terms

    * curb appeal * curb service * roof curb

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To check, restrain or control.
  • * "Curb your dog."
  • * Prior
  • Where pinching want must curb thy warm desires.
  • To rein in.
  • To furnish with a curb, as a well; to restrain by a curb, as a bank of earth.
  • To force to "bite the curb" (hit the pavement curb); see curb stomp.
  • To damage vehicle wheels or tires by running into or over a pavement curb.
  • To bend or curve.
  • * Holland
  • crooked and curbed lines
  • To crouch; to cringe.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, / Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.