brace

1. (obsolete) Armor for the arm; vambrace.obsolete

2. (obsolete) A measurement of length, originally representing a person's outstretched arms.Synonyms: fathomobsolete

3. (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.

4. (plural brace) 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. (In British use (as plural), this is a particularly common reference to game birds.)Examples: "But you, my brace of Lords, were I ſo minded / I heere could plucke his Highneſſe frowne vpon you / And iuſtifie you Traitors: […]"; "A brace of brethren, both bishops, both eminent for learning and religion, now appeared in the church; […]"; "He is ſaid, this ſummer to have ſhot with his own hands fifty brace of pheaſants, and one wild pig; to have ſet thirty coveys of partridges; and to have hunted down forty brace of hares; […]"Synonyms: dyad

5. (nautical) A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.

6. (British, Cornwall, mining) The mouth of a shaft.BritishCornwall