Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Brake \Brake\, n. [OE. brake fern; cf. AS. bracce fern, LG.
   brake willow bush, Da. bregne fern, G. brach fallow; prob.
   orig. the growth on rough, broken ground, fr. the root of E.
   break. See {Break}, v. t., cf. {Bracken}, and 2d {Brake}, n.]
   1. (Bot.) A fern of the genus {Pteris}, esp. the {P.
      aquilina}, common in almost all countries. It has solitary
      stems dividing into three principal branches. Less
      properly: Any fern.

   2. A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles,
      with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes.

            Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, To
            shelter thee from tempest and from rain. --Shak.

            He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for
            stone.                                --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   {Cane brake}, a thicket of canes. See {Canebrake}.