The state of being braced or tight; tension.
Harness; warlike preparation.
That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension.
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.
A system of wires, brackets, and elastic bands used to correct crooked teeth or to reduce overbite.
Straps or bands to sustain trousers; suspenders.
Two goals scored by one player in a game.
A pair, a couple; originally used of dogs, and later of animals generally (e.g., a brace of conies) 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.
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.
A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.
A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.
A thong used to regulate the tension of a drum.
The mouth of a shaft.
To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly.
To furnish with braces; to support; to prop.
To stop someone for questioning, usually said of police.
To confront with questions, demands or requests.
To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen.
To prepare for something bad, such as an impact or blow.
To place in a position for resisting pressure; to hold firmly.
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.
The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
The action of a batsman being out.
An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard
A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.
A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
The chasing of a hunted whale.
A loss of greatness or status.
That which falls or cascades.
To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
To come as if by dropping down.
To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
To become.
To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
To be brought to the ground.
To die, especially in battle or by disease.
To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
To come down, to drop or descend.
The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.