brace
pronunciation
How to pronounce brace in British English:
UK [breɪs]
How to pronounce brace in American English:
US [breɪs]
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- Noun:
- a support that steadies or strengthens something else
- two items of the same kind
- a set of two similar things considered as a unit
- either of two punctuation marks ({ or }) used to enclose textual material
- a rope on a square-rigged ship that is used to swing a yard about and secure it
- elastic straps that hold trousers up (usually used in the plural)
- an appliance that corrects dental irregularities
- the stock of a tool used for turning a drilling bit
- a structural member used to stiffen a framework
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- Verb:
- prepare (oneself) for something unpleasant or difficult
- support or hold steady and make steadfast, with or as if with a brace
- support by bracing
- cause to be alert and energetic
Word Origin
- brace
- brace: [14] English borrowed brace from Old French brace, which meant simply ‘(the length measured by) two arms’. It came from Latin bracchia, the plural of bracchium ‘arm’ (source of French bras ‘arm’, and also of various English technical terms, such as brachiopod [19], a type of shellfish, literally ‘arm-foot’). The word’s ultimate source was Greek brakhíōn ‘arm’, originally ‘upper arm’, which was formed from the comparative of brakhús ‘short’, a relative of English brief (the sense development is probably that the upper arm was named from being ‘shorter’ than the forearm).Of the rather diverse range of meanings the word has in modern English, ‘pair’ derives from the original notion of ‘twoness’, while ‘strengthening or supporting structure’ owes much to the idea of ‘clasping’, mainly contained originally in the verb brace [14], from Old French bracier ‘put one’s arms around’ (a derivative of Old French brace). In English it now only means ‘support, strengthen’, the sense ‘clasp with the arms’ being reserved to embrace [14], from Old French embracer.=> brief, embrace
- brace (n.)
- early 14c., "piece of armor for the arms," also "thong, strap for fastening," from Old French brace, braz "arms," also "length measured by two arms" (12c., Modern French bras "arm, power;" brasse "fathom, armful, breaststroke"), from Latin bracchia, plural of bracchium "an arm, a forearm," from Greek brakhion "an arm" (see brachio-). Applied to various devices for fastening and tightening on notion of clasping arms. Of dogs, "a couple, a pair" from c. 1400.
- brace (v.)
- mid-14c., "to seize, grasp," also "wrap, enshroud; tie up, fetter," from Old French bracier "to embrace," from brace "arms" (see brace (n.)). Meaning "to render firm or steady by tensing" is mid-15c., earlier in figurative sense "strengthen or comfort" (someone), early 15c., with later extension to tonics, etc. that "brace" the nerves (compare bracer "stiff drink"). Related: Braced; bracing.
Example
- 1. Manufacturers had better brace for higher settlements and slimmer margins .
- 2. Countries with soldiers deployed in afghanistan brace themselves for revenge attacks on their troops .
- 3. If that advice is followed , mr bernanke should brace for more downward revisions .
- 4. He urged them to brace for competition by working out what they were good at , what they should not do and what their values were .
- 5. Buy-out firms should brace themselves for fierce competition from trade buyers in asia and work harder to combat the negative , " blood-sucking " publicity surrounding their industry , according to a senior executive from oaktree capital management .