Word.ws English Dictionary

brake blocks

brake blocks is the plural of brake block.

Meaning of brake block

Noun

brake block (plural brake blocks)

  1. (on a bicycle) One of two small blocks fitted to a brake caliper, which rub on the wheel rim when the brake is applied.
  2. A block fitted to locomotives or rolling stock, which rubs on the steel tyre of the wheel when the brake is applied.
    • There are two brake blocks per wheel of the locomotive, and each brake block is actuated by its own cylinder, which obviates rigging (except to the hand parking brake).1959 March, “The 2,500 h.p. electric locomotives for the Kent Coast electrification”, in Trains Illustrated, page 124
  3. A block (perhaps wooden) used for braking a horse-drawn vehicle.

Questions about brake blocks

What is brake blocks the plural of?
Brake blocks is the plural of brake block.

Words near brake blocks in the dictionary

  1. brake assemblies
  2. brake assembly
  3. brake bias
  4. brake biases
  5. brake block
  6. brake blocks
  7. brake check
  8. brake checked
  9. brake checking
  10. brake checks
  11. brake disc

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brake blocks (page history and authors); brake block (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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