Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
BRASSY — BREST
BRASSY, a. Pertaining to brass; partaking of brass; hard as brass; having the color of brass.
1. Impudent; impudently bold.
BRAST, a. Burst. [Not in use.]
BRAT, n. A child, so called in contempt.
1. Offspring; progeny.
BRAUL, n. Indian cloth with blue and white striped, called turbants.
BRAVADO, n. A boast or brag; an arrogant menace, intended to intimidate.
BRAVE, a.
1. Courageous; bold; daring; intrepid; fearless of danger; as a brave warrior. It usually unites the sense of courage with generosity and dignity of mind; qualities often united.
The brave man will not deliberately do an injury to his fellow man.
2. Gallant; lofty; graceful; having a noble mien.
3. Magnificent; grand; as a brave place.
4. Excellent; noble; dignified. But in modern usage, it has nearly lost its application to things.
5. Gaudy; showy in dress.
BRAVE, n. A hector; a man daring beyond discretion or decency.
Hot braves like these may fight.
1. A boast; a challenge; a defiance.
BRAVE, v.t. To defy; to challenge; to encounter with courage and fortitude, or without being moved; to set at defiance.
The ills of love I can brave.
The rock that braves the tempest.
1. To carry a boasting appearance of; as, to brave that which they believe not.
BRAVED, pp. Defied; set at defiance; met without dismay, or being moved.
BRAVELY, adv. Courageously; gallantly; splendidly; in a brave manner; heroically. In Spenser, finely; gaudily.
BRAVERY, n. Courage; heroism; undaunted spirit; intrepidity; gallantry; fearlessness of danger; often united with generosity or dignity of mind which despises meanness and cruelty, and disdains to take advantage of a vanquished enemy.
The duelist, in proving his bravery, shows that he thinks it suspected.
1. Splendor; magnificence; showy appearance.
The bravery of their tinkling ornaments. Isaiah 3:18.
2. Show; ostentation; fine dress.
3. Bravado; boast.
4. A showy person.
[In the last four senses, this word is nearly antiquated.]
BRAVING, ppr. Setting at defiance; challenging.
BRAVO, n. A daring villain; a bandit; one who sets law at defiance; an assassin or murderer.
BRAWL, v.i. [L. proelior.]
1. To quarrel noisily and indecently.
2. To speak loud and indecently.
3. To roar as water; to make a noise.
BRAWL, v.t. To drive or beat away.
BRAWL, n. Noise; quarrel; scurrility; uproar.
1. Formerly, a kind of dance.
BRAWLER, n. A noisy fellow; a wrangler.
BRAWLING, n. The act of quarreling.
BRAWLINGLY, adv. In a quarrelsome manner.
BRAWN, n. [L. aprugnus, caro aprugna.]
1. The flesh of a boar, or the animal.
2. The fleshy, protuberant, muscular part of the body.
3. Bulk; muscular strength.
4. The arm, from its muscles or strength.
BRAWNED, a. Brawny; strong.
BRAWNER, n. A boar killed for the table.
BRAWNINESS, n. The quality of being brawny; strength; hardiness.
BRAWNY, a. Musculous; fleshy; bulky; having large, strong muscles; strong.
BRAY, v.t.
1. To pound, beat or grind small; as, to bray a fool in a mortar. Proverbs 27:22.
2. To make a harsh sound, as of an ass.
3. To make a harsh, disagreeable grating sound.
BRAY, n. The harsh sound or roar of an ass; a harsh grating sound.
1. Shelving ground.
BRAY, n. A bank or mound of earth.
BRAYER, n. One that brays like an ass.
1. A instrument to temper ink in printing offices.
BRAYING, ppr. Pounding or grinding small; roaring.
BRAYING, n. Roar; noise; clamor.
BRAZE, v.t. To soder with brass.
1. To harden to impudence; to harden as with brass.
BRAZEN, a. brazn. Made of brass; as a brazen helmet.
1. Pertaining to brass; proceeding from brass; as a brazen din.
2. Impudent; having a front like brass.
Brazen age, or age of brass, in mythology, the age which succeeded the silver age, when men had degenerated from primitive purity.
Brazen dish, among miners, is the standard by which other dishes are gauged, and is kept in the king’s hall.
Brazen sea, in Jewish antiquity, a huge vessel of brass, cast on the plain of Jordan, and placed in Solomon’s temple. It was ten cubits from brim to brim, five in height, thirty in circumference, and contained 3000 baths. It was designed for the priests to wash themselves in, before they performed the service of the temple.
BRAZEN, v.i. brazn. To be impudent; to bully.
BRAZEN-FACE, n. [brazen and face.] An impudent person; one remarkable for effrontery.
BRAZEN-FACED, a. Impudent; bold to excess; shameless.
BRAZENLY, adv. In a bold impudent manner.
BRAZENNESS, n. Appearance like brass. In this sense, brassiness is the more correct word.
1. Impudence; excess of assurance.
BRAZIER. [See Brasier.]
BRAZIL, BRAZIL-WOOD, n. Brazil, or brazil-wood, or braziletto, is a very heavy wood of a red color, growing in Brazil, and other tropical countries. It is used in manufactures for dyeing red. It is a species of Caesalpina.
BRAZILETTO, n. The same as Brazil-wood.
BRAZILIAN, a. Pertaining to Brazil; as, Brazilian strand.
BREACH, n.
1. The act of breaking; or state of being broken; a rupture; a break; a gap; the space between the severed parts of a solid body parted by violence; as a breach in a garment, or in a wall.
2. The violation of a law; the violation or non-fulfillment of a contract; the non-performance of a moral duty; non-performance of duty being a breach of obligation, as well as a positive transgression or violation.
Every breach of the public engagements is hurtful to public credit.
3. An opening in a coast. [Not usual.]
4. Separation between friends by means of enmity; difference; quarrel.
5. Infraction; injury; invasion; as a breach upon kingly power.
6. Bereavement; loss of a friend and its consequent affliction.
7. A violation of the public peace, as by a riot, affray, or any tumult which is contrary to law, and destructive to the public tranquillity, is called a breach of the peace.
BREACH, v.t. To make a breach, or opening.
BREAD, n. bred. [Gr. anything esculent. If the word signifies food in general, or that which is eaten, probably it is the Heb. and Ch., from barah, to eat or feed.]
1. A mass of dough, made by moistening and kneading the flour or meal of some species of grain, and baked in an oven, or pan.
2. Food in general.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Genesis 3:19.
Give us this day our daily bread. Lord’s Prayer.
3. Support of like in general; maintenance.
Is the reward of virtue, bread?
Bee-bread. [See Bee.]
Ship-bread, bread for ships; hard biscuits.
Cassada-bread. [See Cassada.]
BREAD, v.t. To spread. [Not used.]
BREAD-CHIPPER, n. [bread and chip.] One who chips bread; a baker’s servant; an under butler.
BREAD-CORN, n. [bread and corn.] Corn of which bread is made. This in most countries is wheat and rye; but in some countries bread is made of other grain, as of maize in some parts of America.
BREADEN, a. Made of bread. [Little used.]
BREADLESS, a. Without bread; destitute of food.
BREAD-ROOM, n. An apartment in a ship’s hold, where the bread is kept.
BREAD-TREE, n. [bread and tree.] The bread-fruit tree, or Artocarpus, a tree which grows in the isles of the Pacific ocean, of the size of an apple-tree, producing a fruit shaped like a heart, and as large as a small loaf of bread, which is eaten as food.
BREADTH, n. bredth. The measure or extent of any plain surface from side to side; a geometrical dimension, which, multiplied into the length, constitutes a surface; as, the length of a table is five feet, and the breadth, three; 5x3=15 feet, the whole surface.
BREADTHLESS, a. Having no breadth.
BREAK, v.t. pret. broke, [brake. Obs.] pp. broke or broken.
[L. frango, fregi, n casual; Heb. to break, to free or deliver, to separate.]
1. To part or divide by force and violence, as a solid substance; to rend apart; as, to break a band; to break a thread or a cable.
2. To burst or open by force.
The fountains of the earth were broke open.
3. To divide by piercing or penetrating; to burst forth; as, the light breaks through the clouds.
4. To make breaches or gaps by battering, as in a wall.
5. To destroy, crush, weaken, or impair, as the human body or constitution.
6. To sink; to appall or subdue; as, to break the spirits, or the passions.
7. To crush; to shatter; to dissipate the strength of, as of an army.
8. To weaken, or impair, as the faculties.
9. To tame; to train to obedience; to make tractable; as, to break a horse.
10. To make bankrupt.
11. To discard, dismiss or cashier; as, to break an officer.
12. To crack, to part or divide, as the skin; to open, as an aposteme.
13. To violate, as a contract or promise, either by a positive act contrary to the promise, or by neglect or non-fulfillment.
14. To infringe or violate, as a law, or any moral obligation, either by a positive act or by an omission of what is required.
15. To stop; to interrupt; to cause to cease; as, to break conversation; to break sleep.
16. To intercept; to check; to lessen the force of; as, to break a fall, or a blow.
17. To separate; to part; as, to break company of friendship.
18. To dissolve any union; sometimes with off; as, to break off a connection.
19. To cause to abandon; to reform or cause to reform; as, to break one of ill habits or practices.
20. To open as a purpose; to propound something new; to make a first disclosure of opinions; as, to break one’s mind.
21. To frustrate; to prevent.
If plagues or earthquakes break not heaven’s design.
22. To take away; as, to break the whole staff of bread. Psalm 105:16.
23. To stretch; to strain; to rack; as, to break one on the wheel.
24. To break the back, to strain or dislocate the vertebers with too heavy a burden; also, to disable one’s fortune.
25. To break bulk, to begin to unload.
26. To break a deer, to cut it up at table.
27. To breakfast, to eat the first meal in the day, but used as a compound word.
28. To break ground, to plow.
29. To break ground, to dig; to open trenches.
30. To break the heart, to afflict grievously; to cause great sorrow or grief; to depress with sorrow or despair.
31. To break a jest, to utter a jest unexpected.
32. To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.
33. To break off, to put a sudden stop to; to interrupt; to discontinue.
Break off thy sins by righteousness. Daniel 4:27.
34. To sever; to divide; as, to break off a twig.
35. To break sheer, in marine language. When a ship at anchor is in a position to keep clear of the anchor, but is forced by wind or current out of that position, she breaks her sheer.
36. To break up, to dissolve or put an end to; as, to break up house-keeping.
37. To open or lay open; as, to break up a bed of earth.
38. To plow ground the first time, or after lying long unplowed; a common use in the U. States.
39. To separate; as, to break up a company.
40. To disband; as, to break up an army.
41. To break upon the wheel, to stretch and break the bones by torture upon the wheel.
42. To break wind, to give vent to wind from the body backward.
BREAK, v.i. To part; to separate; to divide in two; as, the ice breaks; a band breaks.
1. To burst; as, a storm or deluge breaks.
2. To burst, by dashing against something; as, a wave breaks upon a rock.
3. To open, as a tumor or aposteme.
4. To open, as the morning; to show the first light; to dawn.
5. To burst forth; to utter or exclaim.
6. To fail in trade or other occupation; to become bankrupt.
7. To decline in health and strength; to begin to lose the natural vigor.
8. To issue out with vehemence.
9. To make way with violence or suddenness; to rush; often with a particle; as, to break in; to break in upon, as calamities; to break over, as a flood; to break out, as a fire; to break forth, as light or a sound.
10. To come to an explanation.
I am to break with thee upon some affairs. [I believe, antiquated.]
11. To suffer an interruption of friendship; to fall out.
Be not afraid to break with traitors.
12. To faint, flag or pant.
My soul breaketh for longing to thy judgments. Psalm 119:20.
13. To break away, to disengage itself from; to rush from; also, to dissolve itself or dissipate, as fog or clouds.
14. To break forth, to issue out.
15. To break from, to disengage from; to depart abruptly, or with vehemence.
16. To break in, to enter by force; to enter unexpectedly; to intrude.
17. To break loose, to get free by force; to escape from confinement by violence; to shake off restraint.
18. To break off, to part; to divide; also, to desist suddenly.
19. To break off from, to part from with violence.
20. To break out, to issue forth; to discover itself by its effects, to arise or spring up; as, a fire breaks out; a sedition breaks out; a fever breaks out.
To appear in eruptions, as pustules; to have pustules, or an efflorescence on the skin, as a child breaks out. Hence we have freckle from the root of break.
To throw off restraint, and become dissolute.
21. To break up, to dissolve itself and separate; as a company breaks up; a meeting breaks up; a fog breaks up; but more generally we say, fog, mist or clouds break away.
22. To break with, to part in enmity; to cease to be friends; as, to break with a friend or companion.
This verb carries with it its primitive sense of straining, parting, severing, bursting, often with violence, with the consequential senses of injury, defect and infirmity.
BREAK, n. A state of being open, or the act of separating; an opening made by force; an open place. It is the same word as brack, differently written and pronounced.
1. A pause; an interruption.
2. A line in writing or printing, noting a suspension of the sense, or a stop in the sentence.
3. In a ship, the break of the deck is the part where it terminates, and the descent on to the next deck below commences.
4. The first appearance of light in the morning; the dawn; as the break of day.
BREAKAGE, n. A breaking; also, an allowance for things broken, in transportation.
BREAKER, n. The person who breaks any thing; a violator or transgressor; as a breaker of the law.
1. A rock which breaks the waves; or the wave itself which breaks the waves; or the wave itself which breaks against a rock, a sand bank, or the shore, exhibiting a white foam.
2. A pier, mound or other solid matter, placed in a river, to break the floating ice, and prevent it from injuring a bridge below; called also ice-breaker.
3. One that breaks up ground.
4. A destroyer. Micah 2:13.
BREAKFAST, n. brek’fast. [break and fast.]
1. The first meal in the day; or the thing eaten at the first meal.
2. A meal, or food in general.
BREAKFAST, v.i. brek’fast. To eat the first meal in the day.
BREAKFAST, v.t. brekfast. To furnish with the first meal in the morning.
BREAKFASTING, ppr. Eating or taking the first meal in the day.
BREAKFASTING, n. A party at breakfast.
BREAKING, ppr. Parting by violence; rending asunder; becoming bankrupt.
BREAKNECK, n. [break and neck.] A fall that breaks the neck; a steep place endangering the neck.
BREAKPROMISE, n. [break and promise.] One who makes a practice of breaking his promise. [Not used.]
BREAKVOW, n. [break and vow.] One who habitually breaks his vows. [Not used.]
BREAKWATER, n. [break and water.] The hull of an old vessel sunk at the entrance of a harbor, to break or diminish the force of the waves, to secure the vessels in harbor.
1. A small buoy fastened to a large one, when the rope of the latter is not long enough to reach the surface of the water.
2. A mole, at the mouth of a harbor, intended to break the force of the waves.
BREAM, n. A fish, the Cyprinus brama, an inhabitant of lakes and deep water, extremely insipid and little valued.
BREAM, v.t. In sea language, to burn off the filth, such as grass, sea week, ooze, etc., from a ship’s bottom.
BREAST, n. brest.
1. The soft, protuberant body, adhering to the thorax, which, in females, furnishes milk for infants.
His breasts are full of milk. Job 21:24.
2. The fore part of the thorax, or the fore part of the human body between the neck and the belly.
3. The part of a breast which answers to the breast in man. This, in quadrupeds, is between the fore legs, below the neck.
4. Figuratively, the heart; the conscience; the disposition of the mind; the affections; the seat of the affections and passions.
5. Formerly, the power of singing.
BREAST, v.t. brest. To meet in front; to oppose breast to breast.
BREASTBONE, n. [breast and bone.] The bone of the breast; the sternum.
BREAST-CASKET, n. [breast and casket.]
One of the largest and longest of the caskets or strings on the middle of the yard of a ship.
BREASTDEEP, a. Breast high; as high as the breast.
BREASTED, a. Having a broad breast; having a fine voice.
BREASTFAST, n. [breast and fast.] A large rope to confine a ship sidewise to a wharf or key.
BREASTHIGH, a. [breast and high.] High as the breast.
BREASTHOOK, n. [breast and high.] A thick piece of timber placed directly across the stem of a ship to strengthen the fore part and unite the bows on each side.
BREASTING, ppr. Meeting with the breast; opposing in front.
BREASTKNOT, n. [breast and knot.] A knot of ribins worn on the breast.
BREASTPLATE, n. [breast and plate.]
1. Armor for the breast.
2. A strap that runs across a horse’s breast.
3. In Jewish antiquity, a part of the vestment of the high priest, consisting of a folded piece of the rich embroidered stuff of which the ephod was made. It was set with twelve precious stones, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes.
BREASTPLOW, n. [breast and plow.] A plow, driven by the breast, used to cut or pare turf.
BREASTROPE, n. [breast and rope.] In a ship, breast ropes are used to fasten the yards to the parrels, and with the parrels, to hold the yards fast to the mast; now called parrel ropes.
BREAST-WORK, n. [breast and work.] In fortification, a work thrown up for defense; a parapet, which see.
BREATH, n. breth.
1. The air inhaled and expelled in the respiration of animals.
2. Life.
No man has more contempt than I of breath.
3. The state or power of breathing freely; opposed to a state of exhaustion from violent action; as, I am out of breath; I am scarce in breath.
4. Respite; pause; time to breathe; as, let me take breath; give me some breath.
5. Breeze; aid in gentle motion.
Calm and unruffled as a summer’s sea,
When not a breath of wind flies o’er its surface.
6. A single respiration; as, he swears at every breath.
7. An instant; the time of a single respiration; a single act.
He smiles and he frowns in a breath.
8. A word.
A breath can make them, as a breath has made.
BREATHABLE, a. That may be breathed.
BREATHE, v.i. To respire; to inspire and expire air. Hence, to live.
1. To take breath; to rest from action; as, let them have time to breathe.
2. To pass as air.
To whose foul mouth no wholesome air breathes in.
BREATHE, v.t. To inhale as air into the lungs and expel it; as, to breathe vital air.
1. To inject by breathing; to infuse; followed by into.
And the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7.
2. To expire; to eject by breathing; followed by out; as, to breathe out threatening and slaughter.
3. To exercise; to keep in breath.
The greyhounds are as swift as brethed stage.
4. To inspire or blow into; to cause to sound by breathing; as, to breathe the flute.
5. To exhale; to emit as breath; as, the flowers breathe odors or perfume.
6. To utter softly or in private; as, to breathe a vow.
7. To give air or vent to; to open; as, to breathe a vein.
8. To express; to manifest.
Other articles breathe the same severe spirit.
BREATHED, pp. Inhaled and exhaled; respired; uttered.
BREATHER, n. One that breathes or lives; one that utters; an inspirer, one who animates or infuses by inspiration.
BREATHFUL, a. breth’ful. Full of breath; full of odor.
BREATHING, ppr. Respiring; living; uttering.
1. Exhibiting to the life; as breathing paint.
BREATHING, n. Respiration; the act of inhaling and exhaling air.
1. Aspiration; secret prayer.
2. Breathing-place; vent.
3. Accent; aspiration.
BREATHING-PLACE, n. A pause.
1. A vent.
BREATHING-TIME, n. Pause, relaxation.
BREATHLESS, a. breth’less. Being out of breath; spent with labor or violent action.
1. Dead; as a breathless body.
BREATHLESSNESS, n. The state of being exhausted of breath.
BRECCIA, n. In mineralogy, an aggregate composed of angular fragments of the same mineral, or of different minerals, united by a cement, and presenting a variety of colors. Sometimes a few of the fragments are a little rounded. The varieties are the siliceous, calcarious and trap breccias.
When rounded stones and angular fragments are united by a cement, the aggregate is usually called coarse conglomerate.
BRECCIATED, a. Consisting of angular fragments, cemented together.
BRECHITE, n. A fossil allied to the Alcyons. It is cylindrical, striated, and its thick end conical, pierced with holes and crested.
BRED, pp. of breed. Generated; produced; contrived; educated.
BREDE, n. A braid. [Not used.]
BREECH, n. brich. [See Breach and Break.] The lower part of the body behind.
1. Breeches; but rarely used in the singular.
2. The hinder part of any thing.
BREECH, v.t. To put into breeches.
1. To whip on the breech.
2. See Britch.
BREECHES, n. plu. brich’es. [Low L. braccoe.]
A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs. It is now a close garment; but the word formerly was used for a loose garment, now called trowsers, laxoe braccoe.
To wear the breeches is, in the wife, to usurp the authority of the husband.
BREECHING, ppr. brich’ing. Furnishing with breeches, or with a breech. [See Britch.]
1. Whipping the breech; and as a noun, a whipping.
BREECHING, in gunnery on board of ships. [Bee Britching.]
BREED, v.t. pret. and pp. bred.
1. To generate; to engender; to hatch; to produce the young of any species of animals. I think it is never used of plants, and in animals is always applied to the mother or dam.
2. To produce within or upon the body; as, to breed teeth; to breed worms.
3. To cause; to occasion; to produce; to originate.
Intemperance and lust breed infirmities.
Ambition breeds factions.
4. To contrive; to hatch; to produce by plotting.
Had he a heart and a brain to breed it in?
5. To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds a race of stout men.
6. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; often, but unnecessarily, followed by up; as, to breed a son to an occupation; a man bred at a university. To breed up is vulgar.
7. To bring up; to nurse and foster; to take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to provide for, train and conduct; to instruct the mind and form the manners in youth.
To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed.
BREED, v.i. To produce, as a fetus; to bear and nourish, as in pregnancy; as, a female breeds with pain.
1. To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, as young before birth; as, children or young breed in the matrix.
2. To have birth; to be produced; as, fish breed in rivers.
3. To be increased by a new production.
But could youth last and love still breed.
4. To raise a breed; as, to choose the best species of swine to breed from.
BREED, n. A race or progeny from the same parents or stock.
1. A cast; a kind; a race of men or other animals, which have an alliance by nativity, or some distinctive qualities in common; as a breed of men in a particular country; a breed of horses or sheep. Applied to men, it is not elegant. We use race.
2. Progeny; offspring; applied to other things than animals.
3. A number produced at once, a hatch; a brood; but for this, brood is generally used.
BREED-BATE, n. One that breeds or originates quarrels. [Not in use.]
BREEDER, n. The female that breeds or produces, whether human or other animal.
1. The person who educates or brings up; that which brings up.
Italy and Rome have been the best breeders of worthy men.
2. That which produces.
Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
3. One who raises a breed; one who takes care to raise a particular breed, or breeds, as of horses or cattle.
BREEDING, ppr. Bearing and nourishing, as a fetus; engendering; producing; educating.
BREEDING, n. The act of generating or of producing.
1. The raising of a breed or breeds; as, the farmer attends to the breeding of sheep.
2. Nurture; education; instruction; formation of manners.
She had her breeding at my father’s charge.
3. By way of eminence, manners; knowledge of ceremony; deportment or behavior in the external offices and decorums of social life. Hence good breeding is politeness, or the qualifications which constitute genteel deportment.
BREEZE, n. A genus of flies or insects, technically called Tabanus. There are many species, but the most noted is the bovinus, great horsefly, whose mouth is armed with two hooks which penetrate the skin of an animal, while with a proboscis, like a sting, it sucks the blood.
BREEZE, n. [Gr. to boil.]
1. A light wind; a gentle gale.
From land a gentle breeze arose at night.
2. A shifting wind, that blows from the sea or from the land, for a certain time, by night or by day. Such breezes are common in the tropical regions, and in a good degree regular. The wind from the sea is called a sea breeze, and that from the land, a land breeze. In general, the sea breeze blows in the day time, and the land breeze at night. The like breezes are common, in the summer months, in the temperate latitudes.
BREEZE, v.i. To blow gently; a word common among seamen.
For now the breathing airs, from ocean born,
Breeze up the bay, and lead the lively morn.
BREEZELESS, a. Motionless; destitute of breezes.
BREEZY, a. Fanned with gentle winds or breezes; as the breezy shore.
1. Subject to frequent breezes.
BREHON, n. In Irish, a judge. In ancient times, the general laws of Ireland were called Brehon laws, unwritten like the common law of England. These laws were abolished by statute of Edward III.
BREISLAKITE, n. A newly discovered Vesuvian mineral, resembling a brownish or reddish brown down, which lines the small bubbles found in the lava of Scalla, and is found in cavities of the lava of Olebano; names from Breislak, a celebrated Italian naturalist.
BREME, a. [L. fremo.] Cruel; sharp. [Not used.]
BREN, v.t. To burn.
BRENNAGE, n. [from bran.] In the middle ages, a tribute or composition which tenants paid to their lord, in lieu of bran which they were obliged to furnish for his hounds.
BRENT or BRANT, a. Steep; high.
BRENT, n. A brant, or brand-goose, a fowl with a black neck and a white collar or line round it. [See Brant.]
1. Brunt. [See Bren.]