In older poetic and rural usage, a “brake” is a patch of dense brushwood, often made up of brambles, ferns, shrubs, or small trees. The plural “brakes” refers to several such overgrown places. Although listed here under “Adjective,” “brakes” functions as a plural noun in Robert Herrick’s poem, helping create an image of the hag riding through dark, difficult, untamed countryside.

“Brake” in this sense is an old and still occasionally regional word for a thicket or brushy area. Do not confuse this meaning with “brakes” on a cart, bicycle, or car, which slow or stop movement. Related words include thicket, brushwood, undergrowth, copse, and briar patch. In poetry, words such as “brakes” can establish a wild, eerie, or uncultivated setting, especially when combined with images of storms, darkness, and supernatural activity.