brace

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, the nominative and accusative plural of bracchium (“arm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹeɪs/
• Rhymes: -eɪs

Noun

brace (plural braces)

1. (obsolete) Armor for the arm; vambrace.
2. (obsolete) A measurement of length, originally representing a person's outstretched arms.
3. A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.
4. That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
5. A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension.
6. A thong used to regulate the tension of a drum.
   • Derham

     The little bones of the ear drum do in straining and relaxing it as the braces of the war drum do in that.

7. The state of being braced or tight; tension.
   • Holder

     the laxness of the tympanum, when it has lost its brace or tension

8. Harness; warlike preparation.
   • Shakespeare

     for that it stands not in such warlike brace

9. (typography) A curved, pointed line, also known as "curly bracket": { or } connecting two or more words or lines, which are to be considered together, such as in {role, roll}; in music, used to connect staves.
10. A pair, a couple; originally used of dogs, and later of animals generally and then other things, but rarely human persons. (The plural in this sense is unchanged.) In British use (as plural), this is a particularly common reference to game birds.
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 5 scene 1

      But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

      I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,

      And justify you traitors

    • Addison

      He is said to have shot […] fifty brace of pheasants.

    • Fuller

      A brace of brethren, both bishops, both eminent for learning and religion, now appeared in the church.

11. A piece of material used to transmit, or change the direction of, weight or pressure; any one of the pieces, in a frame or truss, which divide the structure into triangular parts. It may act as a tie, or as a strut, and serves to prevent distortion of the structure, and transverse strains in its members. A boiler brace is a diagonal stay, connecting the head with the shell.
12. (nautical) A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.
13. (Britain, Cornwall, mining) The mouth of a shaft.
14. (chiefly in the plural) Straps or bands to sustain trousers; suspenders.
15. (chiefly in the plural) A system of wires, brackets, and elastic bands used to correct crooked teeth or to reduce overbite.
16. (soccer) Two goals scored by one player in a game.

Verb

brace (third-person singular simple present braces, present participle bracing, simple past and past participle braced)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To prepare for something bad, such as an impact or blow.

   All hands, brace for impact!

   Brace yourself!

   The boy has no idea about everything that's been going on. You need to brace him for what's about to happen.

   • 2013 January 22, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4)”, in BBC‎:

     Bradford would have been braced for an early assault from Villa as they tried to cut the deficit - and so it proved as they struggled to control the physical presence and aerial threat of Benteke, who headed straight at Bradford keeper Matt Duke when he should have done better.

2. To place in a position for resisting pressure; to hold firmly.

   He braced himself against the crowd.

   • Fairfax

     A sturdy lance in his right hand he braced.

3. (nautical) To swing round the yards of a square rigged ship, using braces, to present a more efficient sail surface to the direction of the wind.

   to brace the yards

4. To stop someone for questioning, usually said of police.
5. To confront with questions, demands or requests.
6. To furnish with braces; to support; to prop.

   to brace a beam in a building

7. To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen.

   to brace the nerves

   • Campbell

     And welcome war to brace her drums.

8. To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly.
   • John Locke

     The women of China, by bracing and binding them from their infancy, have very little feet.

   • Sir Walter Scott

     some who spurs had first braced on

Related terms

• brace aback
• brace about
• brace abox
• brace by
• brace in
• brace oneself
• brace sharp
• brace of shakes

Anagrams

• acerb, caber, cabre, cabré

Etymology

Perhaps from Gothic *𐌱𐍂𐌰𐍃𐌰 (*brasa, “glowing coal”), from Proto-Germanic *brasō (“gleed, crackling coal”), Proto-Indo-European *bʰres- (“to crack, break, burst”). Cognate with French braise (“embers”), Swedish brasa (“to roast”), Icelandic brasa (“to harden by fire”). Most probably cognate to Sanskrit भ्रज (bhraja, “fire”).

Noun

brace f (plural braci)

1. (chiefly in the plural) embers

   Carne alla brace ― grilled meat (literally, “meat [cooked] to the ember”)

   • 1947, Primo Levi, “Storia di dieci giorni”, in Se questo è un uomo [If This Is a Man], Torino: Einaudi, published 1987, →ISBN, page 201:

     Avevamo trovato legna e carbone, e anche brace proveniente dalle baracche bruciate.

Etymology

From Latin brachia, bracchia, originally the plural of bracchium.

Noun

brace f (oblique plural braces, nominative singular brace, nominative plural braces)

1. arm (limb)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (brace)

Alternative forms

• braci

Etymology

From Latin brācae, plural of brāca.

Noun

brace f pl (plural only)

1. (rare, Bukovina) underwear, undergarments, drawers, unmentionables