brace

Etymology

From Middle English brace, from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, the nominative and accusative plural of bracchium (“arm”).

noun

1. (obsolete) Armor for the arm; vambrace.
2. (obsolete) A measurement of length, originally representing a person's outstretched arms.
3. A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.
4. That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
5. A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension.
6. A thong used to regulate the tension of a drum.
7. The state of being braced or tight; tension.
8. Harness; warlike preparation.
9. (typography) 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. (nautical) A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.
13. (Britain, Cornwall, mining) The mouth of a shaft.
14. (Britain, chiefly in the plural) Straps or bands to sustain trousers; suspenders.
15. (plural in North America, singular or plural in the UK) A system of wires, brackets, and elastic bands used to correct crooked teeth or to reduce overbite.
16. (soccer) Two goals scored by one player in a game.
    The Manchester United midfielder’s late brace against Cyprus at the weekend was welcome, but will become no more than a footnote of his Scotland career. His brace here to down the mighty Spanish will go down in history. 28 March 2023, Graeme McGarry, “Scott McTominay earns place in history as Scotland stun Spain”, in The Herald
    To score a 'brace' means that you have scored two goals in a game. Oct 23, 2020, “What is a brace in soccer?”, in Goal

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To prepare for something bad, such as an impact or blow.
   All hands, brace for impact!
   Brace yourself!
   The boy has no idea about everything that's been going on. You need to brace him for what's about to happen.
   Bradford would have been braced for an early assault from Villa as they tried to cut the deficit - and so it proved as they struggled to control the physical presence and aerial threat of Benteke, who headed straight at Bradford keeper Matt Duke when he should have done better. January 22, 2013, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4)”, in BBC
2. To place in a position for resisting pressure; to hold firmly.
   He braced himself against the crowd.
   A sturdy lance in his right hand he braced. 1845, Edward Fairfax (tr.), Godfrey of Bulloigne; or, The Recovery of Jerusalem: Done into English Heroical Verse
3. (nautical) 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.
   to brace the yards
4. To stop someone for questioning, usually said of police.
5. To confront with questions, demands or requests.
   Just about then the young kid who had braced us when we came in uttered a curse and made for the door. 1980, Stephen King, The Wedding Gig
   Constable Fancy’s collecting evidence from his flat while Morse and me brace Valdemar. 2018-02-11, Colin Dexter, Russell Lewis, 58:13 from the start, in Endeavour(Cartouche), season 5, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by DCI Fred Thursday (Roger Allam)
6. To furnish with braces; to support; to prop.
   to brace a beam in a building
7. To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen.
   to brace the nerves
   And welcome war to brace her drums. 1825, Thomas Campbell, Hallowed Ground
8. To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly.
   some who spurs had first braced on 1815, Walter Scott, Lord of the Isles