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Brace   /breɪs/   Listen
noun
Brace  n.  
1.
That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
2.
A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension, as a cord on the side of a drum. "The little bones of the ear drum do in straining and relaxing it as the braces of the war drum do in that."
3.
The state of being braced or tight; tension. "The laxness of the tympanum, when it has lost its brace or tension."
4.
(Arch. & Engin.) 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.
5.
(Print.) A vertical curved line connecting two or more words or lines, which are to be taken together; thus, boll, bowl; or, in music, used to connect staves.
6.
(Naut.) A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.
7.
(Mech.) A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.
8.
A pair; a couple; as, a brace of ducks; now rarely applied to persons, except familiarly or with some contempt. "A brace of greyhounds." "He is said to have shot... fifty brace of pheasants." "A brace of brethren, both bishops, both eminent for learning and religion, now appeared in the church." "But you, my brace of lords."
9.
pl. Straps or bands to sustain trousers; suspenders. "I embroidered for you a beautiful pair of braces."
10.
Harness; warlike preparation. (Obs.) "For that it stands not in such warlike brace."
11.
Armor for the arm; vantbrace.
12.
(Mining) The mouth of a shaft. (Cornwall)
Angle brace. See under Angle.


verb
Brace  v. t.  (past & past part. braced; pres. part. bracing)  
1.
To furnish with braces; to support; to prop; as, to brace a beam in a building.
2.
To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen; as, to brace the nerves. "And welcome war to brace her drums."
3.
To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly. "The women of China, by bracing and binding them from their infancy, have very little feet." "Some who spurs had first braced on."
4.
To place in a position for resisting pressure; to hold firmly; as, he braced himself against the crowd. "A sturdy lance in his right hand he braced."
5.
(Naut.) To move around by means of braces; as, to brace the yards.
To brace about (Naut.), to turn (a yard) round for the contrary tack.
To brace a yard (Naut.), to move it horizontally by means of a brace.
To brace in (Naut.), to turn (a yard) by hauling in the weather brace.
To brace one's self, to call up one's energies. "He braced himself for an effort which he was little able to make."
To brace to (Naut.), to turn (a yard) by checking or easing off the lee brace, and hauling in the weather one, to assist in tacking.
To brace up (Naut.), to bring (a yard) nearer the direction of the keel by hauling in the lee brace.
To brace up sharp (Naut.), to turn (a yard) as far forward as the rigging will permit.


Brace  v. i.  To get tone or vigor; to rouse one's energies; with up. (Colloq.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Brace" Quotes from Famous Books



... on they came out on a clearing where two or three low houses lay in stony fields, crouching among the rocks as if to brace themselves against the wind. They were hardly more than sheds, built of logs and rough boards, with tin stove-pipes sticking out of their roofs. The sun was setting, and dusk had already fallen on the lower world, but a yellow ...
— Summer • Edith Wharton
... Burton, there were none within twenty-five miles of Newbury, and the legal field was gleaned in the magistrates' courts, as in all new countries, by pettifoggers, of whom nearly every township was made luminous with one. Of these, the acknowledged head was Brace. In ordinary life he was a very good sort of a man, not without capacity, but conceited, obstinate, and opinionated; he never had any law learning. In his career before justices of the peace, he was bold, adroit, unscrupulous, coarse, browbeating, ...
— Bart Ridgeley - A Story of Northern Ohio • A. G. Riddle
... down the river, and the only thing Christy could do was to brace himself up to meet whatever might happen on the trip. He did this at once, and a moment later he rang to go ahead at full speed. He was approaching the bend of the river, and in a minute or two more he would be able to see the ...
— Within The Enemy's Lines - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray--Afloat • Oliver Optic
... completeness of our disasters. Truly when it all came back on me like that I felt inclined at times to loose my hold and have done with life. And then the thought of Carette, and my mother, and my grandfather, and Krok, would brace me to further precarious clinging with a warming of the heart, but chiefly the thought of Carette, and the good-bye she had waved to me ...
— Carette of Sark • John Oxenham
... been left by Mr. Powys without the protection of a woman's society in her singular position. Lady Charlotte's natural prompt kindness required no spur from her friend that she should go and brace up the spirits of a little woman, whom she pitied doubly for loving a man who was deceiving her, and not loving one who was good for her. She went frequently to Emilia, and sat with her in the sombre hotel drawing-room. ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith


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