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brakemen

 - 4 dictionary results

brake⋅man

  [breyk-muhn]
Use brakemen in a Sentence
–noun, plural -men.
1. a railroad worker who assists the conductor in the operation of a train.
2. brake 1 (def. 4).
Origin:
1825–35; brake 1 + -man

brake

1  [breyk] noun, verb, braked, brak⋅ing.
–noun
1. a device for slowing or stopping a vehicle or other moving mechanism by the absorption or transfer of the energy of momentum, usually by means of friction.
2. brakes, the drums, shoes, tubes, levers, etc., making up such a device on a vehicle.
3. anything that has a slowing or stopping effect.
4. Also called brakeman. a member of a bobsled team who operates the brake.
5. Also called breaker. a tool or machine for breaking up flax or hemp, to separate the fiber.
6. Also called press brake. a machine for bending sheet metal to a desired shape.
7. Obsolete. an old instrument of torture.
–verb (used with object)
8. to slow or stop by means of or as if by means of a brake.
9. to furnish with brakes.
10. to process (flax or hemp) by crushing it in a brake.
–verb (used without object)
11. to use or run a brake.
12. to stop or slow upon being braked.
13. to run a hoisting machine.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME < MD, MLG; akin to break

Related forms:
brakeless, adjective

Synonyms:
8. halt, arrest, stay, restrain; curb, curtail.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To brakemen
brake·man   (brāk'mən)   
n.  One who operates, inspects, or repairs brakes, especially a railroad employee who assists the conductor and checks on the operation of a train's brakes.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

brake 
c.1440, from O.Du. braeke "flax brake," from breken "to break." The word was applied to many crushing implements, and the ring through the nose of a draught ox. It was infl. in sense by O.Fr. brac, a form of bras "an arm," thus "a lever or handle," which was being used in Eng. from 1380, and applied to "a bridle or curb" from 1430. One or the other or both took up the main modern meaning of "stopping device for a wheel," first attested 1772.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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