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Brake vs Ruin - What's the difference?

brake | ruin |

In transitive terms the difference between brake and ruin

is that brake is to pulverise with a harrow while ruin is to cause the ruin of.

In obsolete terms the difference between brake and ruin

is that brake is a cage while ruin is a fall or tumble.

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

    * * ----

    ruin

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:The Veian and the Gabian towers shall fall, / And one promiscuous ruin' cover all; / Nor, after length of years, a stone betray / The place where once the very ' ruins lay.
  • *(Joseph Stevens Buckminster) (1751-1812)
  • *:The labour of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the ruins of an old and vicious character.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}
  • (lb) The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.
  • :
  • (lb) Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.
  • :
  • *(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • *:The errors of young men are the ruin of business.
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin —but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.
  • (lb) A fall or tumble.
  • *(George Chapman) (1559-1634)
  • *:His ruin startled the other steeds.
  • A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.
  • :
  • *(Thomas Gray) (1716-1771)
  • *:Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to cause the ruin of.
  • * 1883 ,
  • In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week after week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had been long exhausted...
  • To destroy or make something no longer usable.
  • He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.
  • * Longfellow
  • By the fireside there are old men seated, / Seeling ruined cities in the ashes.
  • To upset or mess up the plans or progress of, or to put into disarray; to spoil.
  • My car breaking down just as I was on the road ruined my vacation.

    Synonyms

    * destroy * fordo * ruinate * wreck

    Antonyms

    * build * construct * found * produce