brake

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noun

ADJECTIVE

▪ defective, faulty

▪ front, rear

▪ emergency (AmE), foot (usually footbrake), hand (usually handbrake) (esp. BrE), parking (AmE)

▪ air, anti-lock, disc, drum, vacuum

VERB + BRAKE

▪ apply, hit, jam on, put on, slam on, use

▪

She slammed on the brakes to try to avoid the dog.

▪ put your foot on, slam your foot on

▪ keep your foot on

▪ let off, release, take your foot off

▪

He released the brake and sped off.

BRAKE + VERB

▪ work

▪

My brakes are not working properly.

▪ fail

▪

The car crashed after its brakes failed.

▪ screech, squeal

▪ be off, be on

▪

Is the brake on?

BRAKE + NOUN

▪ failure

▪ cable, fluid, lights, pads, pedal, pipes, shoes (esp. AmE)

PHRASES

▪ act as a brake on sth, serve as a brake on sth (both figurative)

▪ put a brake on sth, put the brakes on sth (figurative)

▪

The need to earn some money put the brakes on my wilder ambitions.

▪ a screech of brakes, a squeal of brakes

▪

We heard the screech of brakes, followed by a loud crash.

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verb

ADVERB

▪ hard, heavily (esp. BrE), sharply (esp. BrE), suddenly

PHRASES

▪ brake to a halt

▪

The train braked to a shuddering halt.

▪ brake to avoid sth

▪

She braked suddenly to avoid a cat.

Brake is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑train