Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BRAKE, n. [W. brwg; Ir. fraoch; Port. brejo; Sp. brezo; Dan. bregne; G. breche; L. erica; Gr. ερικω, ερεικω, to break. So named probably from its roughness or broken appearance.]

1. Brake is a name given to fern, or rather to the female fern, a species of cryptogamian plants of the genus Pteris, whose fructification is in lines under the margin of the leaf or a frond. – Fam. of Plants. Encyc.
2. A place overgrown with brake. – Encyc.
3. A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles. – Johnson.
4. In the United States, a thicket of canes, as a cane-brake; but I believe used only in composition. – Ellicott.