To brake or slow down; an archaic or technical term for applying braking force.
From em- + brake (from Middle Dutch brake, meaning 'to break' or from a tool called a brake). The em- prefix adds intensity or direction to the verb, meaning 'to brake thoroughly or into.'
Very few people use 'embrake' anymore because 'brake' itself already means what we need. This shows how English regularly drops em- prefixes when the base word alone does the job—efficiency wins out over time!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.