continuous brake

2 definitions found

continuous brake - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Continuous \Con*tin"u*ous\, a. [L. continuus, fr. continere to
     hold together. See Continent.]
     1. Without break, cessation, or interruption; without
        intervening space or time; uninterrupted; unbroken;
        continual; unceasing; constant; continued; protracted;
        extended; as, a continuous line of railroad; a continuous
        current of electricity.
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              he can hear its continuous murmur.    --Longfellow.
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     2. (Bot.) Not deviating or varying from uninformity; not
        interrupted; not joined or articulated.
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     Continuous brake (Railroad), a brake which is attached to
        each car a train, and can be caused to operate in all the
        cars simultaneously from a point on any car or on the
        engine.
  
     Continuous impost. See Impost.
  
     Syn: Continuous, Continual.
  
     Usage: Continuous is the stronger word, and denotes that the
            continuity or union of parts is absolute and
            uninterrupted; as, a continuous sheet of ice; a
            continuous flow of water or of argument. So Daniel
            Webster speaks of "a continuous and unbroken strain of
            the martial airs of England." Continual, in most
            cases, marks a close and unbroken succession of
            things, rather than absolute continuity. Thus we speak
            of continual showers, implying a repetition with
            occasional interruptions; we speak of a person as
            liable to continual calls, or as subject to continual
            applications for aid, etc. See Constant.
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  Brake \Brake\ (br[=a]k), n. [OE. brake; cf. LG. brake an
     instrument for breaking flax, G. breche, fr. the root of E.
     break. See Break, v. t., and cf. Breach.]
     1. An instrument or machine to break or bruise the woody part
        of flax or hemp so that it may be separated from the
        fiber.
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     2. An extended handle by means of which a number of men can
        unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine.
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     3. A baker's kneading though. --Johnson.
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     4. A sharp bit or snaffle.
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              Pampered jades . . . which need nor break nor bit.
                                                    --Gascoigne.
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     5. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith
        is shoeing him; also, an inclosure to restrain cattle,
        horses, etc.
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              A horse . . . which Philip had bought . . . and
              because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of
              iron bars.                            --J. Brende.
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     6. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or
        engine, which enables it to turn.
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     7. (Mil.) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow
        and ballista.
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     8. (Agric.) A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after
        plowing; a drag.
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     9. A piece of mechanism for retarding or stopping motion by
        friction, as of a carriage or railway car, by the pressure
        of rubbers against the wheels, or of clogs or ratchets
        against the track or roadway, or of a pivoted lever
        against a wheel or drum in a machine.
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     10. (Engin.) An apparatus for testing the power of a steam
         engine, or other motor, by weighing the amount of
         friction that the motor will overcome; a friction brake.
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     11. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in
         horses.
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     12. An ancient instrument of torture. --Holinshed.
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     Air brake. See Air brake, in the Vocabulary.
  
     Brake beam or Brake bar, the beam that connects the brake
        blocks of opposite wheels.
  
     Brake block.
         (a) The part of a brake holding the brake shoe.
         (b) A brake shoe.
  
     Brake shoe or Brake rubber, the part of a brake against
        which the wheel rubs.
  
     Brake wheel, a wheel on the platform or top of a car by
        which brakes are operated.
  
     Continuous brake . See under Continuous.
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