|
| (Click to enlarge) |
| brace |
| brace and drill bit ( School Division, Houghton Mifflin Company) |
- A device that holds or fastens two or more parts together or in place; a clamp.
- A device, such as a supporting beam in a building or a connecting wire or rope, that steadies or holds something else erect.
- braces Chiefly British. Suspenders.
- An orthopedic appliance used to support, align, or hold a bodily part in the correct position.
- A dental appliance constructed of bands and wires that is fixed to the teeth to correct irregular alignment. Often used in the plural.
- An extremely stiff, erect posture.
- A cause or source of renewed physical or spiritual vigor.
- A protective pad strapped to the bow arm of an archer.
- Nautical. A rope by which a yard is swung and secured on a square-rigged ship.
- A cranklike handle with an adjustable aperture at one end for securing and turning a bit.
- Music. A leather loop that slides to change the tension on the cord of a drum.
- Music.
- A vertical line, usually accompanied by the symbol {, connecting two or more staffs.
- A set of staffs connected in this way.
- A symbol, { or }, enclosing two or more lines of text or listed items to show that they are considered as a unit.
- Mathematics. Either of a pair of symbols, { }, used to indicate aggregation or to clarify the grouping of quantities when parentheses and square brackets have already been used. Also called bracket.
- pl. brace. A pair of like things: three brace of partridges.
v., braced, brac·ing, brac·es. v.tr.
- To furnish with a brace.
- To support or hold steady with or as if with a brace; reinforce.
- To prepare or position so as to be ready for impact or danger: Union members braced themselves for a confrontation with management.
- To confront with questions or requests.
- To increase the tension of.
- To invigorate; stimulate: “The freshness of the September morning inspired and braced him” (Thomas Hardy).
- Nautical. To turn (the yards of a ship) by the braces.
To get ready; make preparations.
phrasal verb:brace up
- To summon one's strength or endurance.
[Middle English, from Old French, the two arms, from Vulgar Latin *bracia, from Latin brācchia, pl. of brācchium, arm, from Greek brakhīōn, upper arm. V., partly from Old French bracier, from Old French brace, the two arms.]
