Brawniness – Brigandine

Brawniness

BRAWN'INESS, noun The quality of being brawny; strength; hardiness.

Brawny

BRAWN'Y, adjective Musculous; fleshy; bulky; having large, strong muscles; strong.

Bray

BRAY, verb transitive

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, noun The harsh sound or roar of an ass; a harsh grating sound.

1. Shelving ground.

BRAY, noun A bank or mound of earth.

Brayer

BRA'YER, noun One that brays like an ass.

1. A instrument to temper ink in printing offices.

Braying

BRA'YING, participle present tense Pounding or grinding small; roaring.

BRA'YING, noun Roar; noise; clamor.

Braze

BRAZE, verb transitive To soder with brass.

1. To harden to impudence; to harden as with brass.

Brazen

BRA'ZEN, adjective 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.

BRA'ZEN, verb intransitive brazn. To be impudent; to bully.

Brazen-Face

BRA'ZEN-FACE, noun [brazen and face.] An impudent person; one remarkable for effrontery.

Brazen-Faced

BRA'ZEN-FACED, adjective Impudent; bold to excess; shameless.

Brazenly

BRA'ZENLY, adverb In a bold impudent manner.

Brazenness

BRA'ZENNESS, noun Appearance like brass. In this sense, brassiness is the more correct word.

1. Impudence; excess of assurance.

Brazier

BRAZIER. [See Brasier.]

Brazil

BRAZIL'

BRAZIL'-WOOD, noun 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.

Brazil-Wood

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

BRAZILET'TO, noun The same as Brazil-wood.

Brazilian

BRAZIL'IAN, adjective Pertaining to Brazil; as, brazilian strand.

Breach

BREACH, noun

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, verb transitive To make a breach or opening.

Bread

BREAD, noun 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, verb transitive To spread. [Not used.]

BREAD'-CHIPPER, noun [bread and chip.] One who chips bread; a baker's servant; an under butler.

BREAD'-CORN, noun [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.

Bread-Room

BREAD'-ROOM, noun An apartment in a ship's hold, where the bread is kept.

BREAD'-TREE, noun [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.

Breaden

BREAD'EN, adjective Made of bread. [Little used.]

Breadless

BREAD'LESS, adjective Without bread; destitute of food.

Breadth

BREADTH, noun 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

BREADTH'LESS, adjective Having no breadth.

Break

BREAK, verb transitive preterit tense broke, [brake.obs.] participle passive broke or broken.

[Latin 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. Psalms 105:1.

23. To stretch; to strain; to rack; as, to break one on the wheel.

To break the back, to strain or dislocate the vertebers with too heavy a burden; also, to disable one's fortune.

To break bulk, to begin to unload.

To break a deer, to cut it up at table.

To breakfast, to eat the first meal in the day, but used as a compound word.

To break ground, to plow.

To break ground, to dig; to open trenches.

To break the heart, to afflict grievously; to cause great sorrow or grief; to depress with sorrow or despair.

To break a jest, to utter a jest unexpected.

To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.

To break off, to put a sudden stop to; to interrupt; to discontinue.

BREAK off thy sins by righteousness. Daniel 4:27.

1. To sever; to divide; as, to break off a twig.

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.

To break up, to dissolve or put an end to; as, to break up house-keeping.

1. To open or lay open; as, to break up a bed of earth.

2. To plow ground the first time, or after lying long unplowed; a common use in the U. States.

3. To separate; as, to break up a company.

4. To disband; as, to break up an army.

To break upon the wheel, to stretch and break the bones by torture upon the wheel.

To break wind, to give vent to wind from the body backward.

BREAK, verb intransitive 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. Psalms 119:20.

To break away, to disengage itself from; to rush from; also, to dissolve itself or dissipate, as fog or clouds.

To break forth, to issue out.

To break from, to disengage from; to depart abruptly, or with vehemence.

To break in, to enter by force; to enter unexpectedly; to intrude.

To break loose, to get free by force; to escape from confinement by violence; to shake off restraint.

To break off, to part; to divide; also, to desist suddenly.

To break off from, to part from with violence.

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.

1. 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

2. To throw off restraint, and become dissolute.

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.

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, noun 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

BREAKAGE, noun A breaking; also, an allowance for things broken, in transportation.

Breaker

BREAKER, noun 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

BREAK'FAST, noun 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.

BREAK'FAST, verb intransitive brek'fast. To eat the first meal in the day.

BREAKFAST, verb transitive brekfast. To furnish with the first meal in the morning.

Breakfasting

BREAK'FASTING, participle present tense Eating or taking the first meal in the day.

BREAK'FASTING, noun A party at breakfast.

Breaking

BREAKING, participle present tense Parting by violence; rending asunder; becoming bankrupt.

Breakneck

BREAKNECK, noun [break and neck.] A fall that breaks the neck; a steep place endangering the neck.

Breakpromise

BREAKPROMISE, noun [break and promise.] One who makes a practice of breaking his promise. [Not used.]

Breakvow

BREAKVOW, noun [break and vow.] One who habitually breaks his vows. [Not used.]

Breakwater

BREAKWATER, noun [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

BREAM, noun A fish, the Cyprinus brama, an inhabitant of lakes and deep water, extremely insipid and little valued.

BREAM, verb transitive In sea language, to burn off the filth, such as grass, sea week, ooze, etc., from a ship's bottom.

Breast

BREAST, noun 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, verb transitive brest. To meet in front; to oppose breast to breast

Breast-Work

BREAST'-WORK, noun [breast and work.] In fortification, a work thrown up for defense; a parapet, which see.

Breastbone

BREAST'BONE, noun [breast and bone.] The bone of the breast; the sternum.

BREAST'-C'ASKET, noun [breast and casket.]

One of the largest and longest of the caskets or strings on the middle of the yard of a ship.

Breastdeep

BREAST'DEEP, adjective Breast high; as high as the breast.

Breasted

BREAST'ED, adjective Having a broad breast; having a fine voice.

Breastfast

BREAST'F'AST, noun [breast and fast.] A large rope to confine a ship sidewise to a wharf or key.

Breasthigh

BREAST'HIGH, adjective [breast and high.] High as the breast.

Breasthook

BREAST'HOOK, noun [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

BREAST'ING, participle present tense Meeting with the breast; opposing in front.

Breastknot

BREAST'KNOT, noun [breast and knot.] A knot of ribins worn on the breast.

Breastplate

BREAST'PLATE, noun [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

BREAST'PLOW, noun [breast and plow.] A plow, driven by the breast, used to cut or pare turf.

Breastrope

BREAST'ROPE, noun [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.

Breath

BREATH, noun 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

BRE'ATHABLE, adjective That may be breathed.

Breathe

BREATHE, verb intransitive 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, verb transitive 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

BRE'ATHED, participle passive Inhaled and exhaled; respired; uttered.

Breather

BRE'ATHER, noun One that breathes or lives; one that utters; an inspirer, one who animates or infuses by inspiration.

Breathful

BREATH'FUL, adjective breth'ful. Full of breath; full of odor.

Breathing

BRE'ATHING, participle present tense Respiring; living; uttering.

1. Exhibiting to the life; as breathing paint.

BRE'ATHING, noun Respiration; the act of inhaling and exhaling air.

1. Aspiration; secret prayer.

2. Breathing-place; vent.

3. Accent; aspiration.

BRE'ATHING-PLACE, noun A pause.

1. A vent.

Breathing-Time

BRE'ATHING-TIME, noun Pause, relaxation.

Breathless

BREATH'LESS, adjective breth'less. Being out of breath; spent with labor or violent action.

1. Dead; as a breathless body.

Breathlessness

BREATH'LESSNESS, noun The state of being exhausted of breath.

Breccia

BREC'CIA, noun 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

BREC'CIATED, adjective Consisting of angular fragments, cemented together.

Brechite

BRECH'ITE, noun A fossil allied to the Alcyons. It is cylindrical, striated, and its thick end conical, pierced with holes and crested.

Bred

BRED, participle passive of breed. Generated; produced; contrived; educated.

Brede

BREDE. noun A braid. [Not used.]

Breech

BREECH, noun 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, verb transitive To put into breeches.

1. To whip on the breech

2. See Britch.

Breeches

BREECHES, noun plural brich'es. [Low Latin 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

BREECHING, participle present tense 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

BREED, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive 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, verb intransitive 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, noun 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

BREE'D-BATE, noun One that breeds or originates quarrels. [Not in use.]

Breeder

BREE'DER, noun 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

BREE'DING, participle present tense Bearing and nourishing, as a fetus; engendering; producing; educating.

BREE'DING, noun 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

BREEZE, noun 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, noun [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, verb intransitive 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

BREE'ZELESS, adjective Motionless; destitute of breezes.

Breezy

BREE'ZY, adjective Fanned with gentle winds or breezes; as the breezy shore.

1. Subject to frequent breezes.

Brehon

BRE'HON, noun 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

BRE'ISLAKITE, noun 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

BREME, adjective [Latin fremo.] Cruel; sharp. [Not used.]

Bren

BREN, verb transitive To burn.

Brennage

BREN'NAGE, noun [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

BRENT or BRANT, adjective Steep; high.

BRENT, noun 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.]

Brest

BREST or BREAST, noun In architecture, the member of a column, more usually called torus or tore. [See Torus.]

BREST'-SUMMER, noun In Architecture, a piece in the outward part of a wooden building, into which the girders are framed. This, in the ground floor, is called a sill, and in the garret floor, a beam.

Bret

BRET, noun A local name of the turbot, called also burt or brut.

Bretful

BRET'FUL, adjective Brimful.

Brethren

BRETH'REN, noun plural of brother. It is used almost exclusively in solemn and scriptural language, in the place of brothers. [See Brother.]

Breve

BREVE, noun [Latin brevis.]

1. In music, a note or character of time, equivalent to two semibreves or four minims. When dotted, it is equal to three semibreves.

2. In law, a writ directed to the chancellor, judges, sheriffs or other officers, whereby a person is summoned, or attached, to answer in the king's court.

This word, in the latter sense, is more generally written brief.

Brevet

BREVET', noun [from breve.] In the French customs, the grant of a favor or donation from the king, or the warrant evidencing the grant; a warrant; a brief, or commission. More particularly, a commission given to a subaltern officer, written on parchment, without seal.

1. A commission to an officer which entitles him to a rank in the army above his pay. Thus a brevit major serves as a captain and received pay as such. Such commissions were given to the officers of the American Army at the close of the war, giving them a grade of rank above that which they had held during service.

Breviary

BRE'VIARY, noun [Latin breviarium, from brevis, short. See

Brief.]

1. An abridgment; a compend; an epitome.

2. A book containing the daily service of the Romish church. It is composed of matins, lauds, first, third, sixth and ninth vespers, and the compline or post communion. The Greeks also have a breviary

Breviat

BRE'VIAT, noun [See Breve and Brief.] A short compend; a summary.

Breviate

BRE'VIATE, verb transitive To abridge. [Not used.] [See Abbreviate.]

Breviature

BRE'VIATURE, noun An abbreviation. [See Brief.]

Brevier

BREVIE'R, noun A small king of printing types, in size between bourgeois and minion. It is much used in printing marginal notes.

Breviped

BREV'IPED, adjective [Latin brevis, short, and pes, foot.] Having short legs, as a fowl.

BREV'IPED, noun A fowl having short legs.

Brevity

BREV'ITY, noun [Latin brevitas, from brevis, short. See Brief.]

1. Shortness; applied to time; as the brevity of human life.

2. Shortness; conciseness; contraction into few words; applied to discourses or writings.

Brew

BREW, verb transitive

1. In a general sense, to boil, and mix; hence in Saxon, it signifies broth or pottage; Old. Eng. brewis.

2. In a more restricted sense, to make beer, ale or other similar liquor from malt; or to prepare a liquor from malt and hops, and in private families, from other materials, by steeping, boiling and fermentation.

3. To mingle.

BREW me a pottle of sack.

4. To contrive; to plot; as, to brew mischief.

5. To put in a state of preparation.

BREW, verb intransitive To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming or collecting; as, a storm brews in the west. In this sense I do not recollect the use of the verb, in a transitive sense, and generally the participle only is used; as, a storm is brewing.

1. To perform the business of brewing or making beer; as, she can brew wash and bake.

BREW, noun The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed.

Brew-House

BREW'-HOUSE, adjective [brew and house.] A brewery; a house appropriated to brewing.

Brewage

BREW'AGE, noun Malt liquor; drink brewed.

Brewed

BREW'ED, participle passive Mixed, steeped and fermented; made by brewing.

Brewer

BREW'ER, noun One whose occupation is to prepare malt liquors; one who brews.

Brewery

BREW'ERY, noun A brew-house; the house and apparatus where brewing is carried on.

Brewing

BREW'ING, participle present tense Preparing malt liquor.

1. In a state of mixing, forming or preparing; as, a storm is brewing

2. Contriving; preparing; as, a scheme is brewing

BREW'ING, noun The act or process of preparing liquors from malt and hops.

1. The quantity brewed at once.

2. Among seamen, a collection of black clouds portending a storm.

Brewis

BREW'IS, noun Broth; pottage.

1. A piece of bread soaked in boiling fat pottage, made of salted meat.

Briar

BRIAR, [See Brier.]

Bribe

BRIBE, noun

1. A price, reward, gift or favor bestowed or promised with a view to pervert the judgment, or corrupt the conduct of a judge, witness or other person. A bribe is a consideration given or promised to a person, to induce him to decide a cause, give testimony, or perform some act contrary to what he knows to be truth, justice or rectitude. It is not used in a good sense, unless in familiar language.

2. That which seduces.

Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these ever blooming sweets.

BRIBE, verb transitive To give or promise a reward or consideration, with a view to pervert the judgment, or corrupt the conduct. To hire for bad purposes; to purchase the decision of a judge, the testimony of a witness, or the performance of some act contrary to known truth, justice or rectitude.

1. To gain by a bribe

In familiar language, it is sometimes used in a good sense; as, to bribe a child to take a medicine. Dryden has used the word in a good sense, in solemn language; but such use is rare, and hardly legitimate.

Bribe-Devouring

BRIBE-DEVOUR'ING, adjective Greedy of bribes or presents; as bribe-devouring kings.

Briber

BRI'BER, noun One who bribes, or pays for corrupt practices.

Bribery

BRI'BERY, noun The act or practice of giving or taking rewards for corrupt practices; the act of paying or receiving a reward for a false judgment, or testimony, or for the performance of that which is known to be illegal, or unjust. It is applied both to him who gives, and to him who receives the compensation, but appropriately to the giver.

Bribeworthy

BRIBE'WORTHY, adjective [bribe and worthy.] Worth bribing to obtain.

Brick

BRICK, noun [Latin imbrex, a gutter-tile, from imber, a shower, which is probably a compound, of which the last syllable is from whence.]

A mass of earth, chiefly clay, first moistened and made fine by grinding or treading, then formed into a long square in a mold, dried and baked or burnt in a kiln; used in buildings and walls.

1. A loaf shaped like a brick

BRICK, verb transitive To lay or pave with bricks.

1. To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on plaster, by smearing it with red ocher and making the joints with an edge-tool, filling them with fine plaster.

Brickbat

BRICK'BAT, noun [brick and bat.] A piece or fragment of a brick.

BRICK'-BUILT, adjective Built with bricks.

BRICK'-CLAY, noun [brick and clay.] Clay used or suitable for making bricks.

Brickdust

BRICK'DUST, noun [brick and dust.] Dust of pounded bricks.

Brickearth

BRICK'EARTH, noun [brick and earth.] Clay or earth used, or suitable for bricks.

Brickkiln

BRICK'KILN, noun [brick and kiln.] A kiln, or furnace, in which bricks are baked or burnt, or a pile of bricks, laid loose, with arches underneath to receive the wood or fuel.

Bricklayer

BRICK'LAYER, noun [brick and lay.] One whose occupation is to build with bricks; a mason.

Brickle

BRICKLE, adjective [from break.] Brittle; easily broken. [Not used.]

Brickmaker

BRICK'MAKER, noun [brick and make.] One who makes bricks, or whose occupation is to make bricks.

Brickwork

BRICK'WORK, noun The laying of bricks, or a wall of bricks.

Bricky

BRICK'Y, adjective Full of bricks, or formed of bricks.

Bridal

BRI'DAL, adjective [See Bride.] Belonging to a bride, or to a wedding; nuptial; connubial; as bridal ornaments.

BRI'DAL, noun The nuptial festival.

Bridality

BRIDAL'ITY, noun Celebration of the nuptial feast. [Not used.]

Bride

BRIDE, noun

1. A woman new married.

But the name is applied to a woman at the marriage festival, before she is married, as well as after the ceremony.

2. A woman espoused, or contracted to be married. The case of Lewellyn, prince of Wales. Henry's Hist.of Britain, B.iv.ch.i., sect.2. [This is the true original sense of the word.]

Bridecake

BRI'DECAKE, noun [bride and cake.] The cake which is made for the guests at a wedding; called, in the U. States, wedding cake.

Bridechamber

BRI'DECHAMBER, noun The nuptial apartment. Matthew 9:15.

Bridegroom

BRI'DEGROOM, noun A man newly married; or a man about to be married. The passage of Shakespeare cited by Johnson proves that the last definition is just.

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day,

That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,

And summon him to marriage.

BRI'DEGROOM, noun [See bridegroom ]

Brideman

BRI'DEMAN, noun [bride and man.] A man who attends upon a bridegroom and bride at their marriage. I have generally heard these words pronounced bride's man and bride's maid.

Briderbed

BRI'DERBED, noun [bride and bed.] The marriage bed.

Bridermaid

BRI'DERMAID, noun [bride and maid.] A woman who attends on a bride at her wedding.

Bridestake

BRI'DESTAKE, noun A stake or post set in the ground to dance round.

Bridewell

BRI'DEWELL, noun A house of correction, for the confinement of disorderly persons; so called from the palace built near St. Bride's or Bridget's well, in London, which was turned into a workhouse.

Bridge

BRIDGE, noun

1. Any structure of wood, stone, brick, or iron, raised over a river, pond, or lake, for the passage of men and other animals. Among rude nations, bridges are sometimes formed of other materials; and sometimes they are formed of boats, or logs of wood lying on the water, fastened together, covered with planks, and called floating bridges. A bridge over a marsh is made of logs or other materials laid upon the surface of the earth.

Pendent or hanging bridges are not supported by posts, but by the peculiar structure of the frame, resting only on the abutments.

A draw bridge is one which is made with hinges, and may be raised or opened. Such bridges are constructed in fortifications, to hinder the passage of a ditch or moat; and over rivers, that the passage of vessels need not be interrupted.

A flying bridge is made of pontoons, light boats, hollow beams, empty casks or the like. They are made, as occasion requires, for the passage of armies.

A flying bridge is also constructed in such a manner as to move from one side of a river to the other, being made fast in the middle of the river by a cable and an anchor.

1. The upper part of the nose.

2. The part of a stringed instrument of music, over which the strings are stretched, and by which they are raised.

3. In gunnery, the two pieces of timber which go between the two transoms of a gun-carriage.

BRIDGE, verb transitive To build a bridge or bridges over; as, to bridge a river.

1. To erect bridges on; to make a passage by a bridge or bridges.

Bridged

BRIDG'ED, participle passive Covered or furnished with a bridge.

Bridging

BRIDG'ING, participle present tense Erecting a bridge; building a bridge over.

Bridgy

BRIDG'Y, adjective Full of bridges. [Not used.]

Bridle

BRI'DLE, noun

1. The instrument with which a horse is governed and restrained by a rider; consisting of a head-stall, a bit, and reins, with other appendages, according to its particular form and uses.

2. A restraint; a curb; a check.

3. A short piece of cable well served, attached to a swivel on a chain, laid in a harbor, and the upper end drawn into a ship and secured to the bits. The use is to enable a ship, when moored, to veer with the wind and tide.

Bowline bridles are short legs or pieces of rope, running through iron thimbles, by which the bowline attaches to different places on the leech or edge of a large sail

BRI'DLE, verb transitive To put on a bridle; as, to bridle a horse.

1. To restrain, guide or govern; to check, curb or control; as, to bridle the passions; 'to bridle a muse.'

Bridle the excursions of youth.

BRI'DLE, verb intransitive To hold up the head, and draw in the chin.

Bridle-Hand

BRI'DLE-HAND, noun [bridle and hand.] The hand which holds the bridle in riding.

Bridled

BRI'DLED, participle passive Having a bridle on; restrained.

Bridler

BRI'DLER, noun One that bridles; one that restrains and governs.

Bridling

BRI'DLING, participle present tense Putting on a bridle; restraining; curbing.

1. Holding up the head, and drawing in the chin.

The bridling frown of wrinkles brows.

Brief

BRIEF, adjective [Latin brevis, when brevio, so shorten abbreviate. Brevis, in Latin, is doubtless contracted from the Gr., whence to abridge. The Greek word coincides in elements with break.]

Short; concise; it is used chiefly of language, discourses, writings and time; as a brief space, a brief review of a book. Shakespeare applies it to wars, to nature, etc. A little brief authority is authority very limited.

BRIEF, noun [In this sense the word has been received into most of the languages of Europe.]

1. An epitome; a short or concise writing. This is the general sense of the word, as explained by Zonaras on the council

of Carthage. It was thus used as early as the third century after Christ.

In modern times, an apostolical brief is a letter which the pope dispatches to a prince or other magistrate, relating to public affairs. A brief is distinguished from a bull, in being more concise, written on paper, sealed with red wax, and impressed with the seal of the fisherman or Peter in a boat. A bull is more ample, written on parchment, and sealed with lead or green wax.

2. In law, an abridgment of a client's case, made out for the instruction of council on a trial at law.

Also, a writ summoning a man to answer to any action; or any precept of the king in writing, issuing from any court, whereby he commands a thing to be done.

In Scots law, a writ issuing from the chancery, directed to any judge ordinary, commanding and authorizing that judge to call a jury to inquire into the case, and upon their verdict to pronounce sentence.

3. A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a public collection or charitable contribution of money for any public or private purpose.

4. A writing in general.

In music, the word, if I mistake not, is now written breve.

Briefly

BRIE'FLY, adverb Concisely; in few words.

Briefness

BRIE'FNESS, noun Shortness; conciseness in discourse or writing.

Brier

BRI'ER, noun

1. In a general sense, a prickly plant or shrub. Is.v.6. Judges 8:7.

2. In a limited sense, the sweet-brier and the wild-brier, species of the rose.

Briery

BRI'ERY, adjective Full of briers; rough; thorny.

Brig

BRIG, the termination of names, signifies a bridge, or perhaps, in some cases, a town, or burg.

BRIG, noun [from brigantine.] A vessel with two masts, square rigged, or rigged nearly like a ship's mainmast and foremast. The term, however, is variously applied by the mariners of different nations.

Brigade

BRIGA'DE, noun A party or division of troops, or soldiers, whether cavalry or infantry, regular or militia, commanded by a brigadier. It consists of an indeterminate number of regiments, squadrons, of battalions. A brigade of horse is a body of eight or ten squadrons; of infantry, four, five, or six battalions, or regiments.

BRIGA'DE, verb transitive To form into a brigade or into brigades.

Brigade-Major

BRIGA'DE-MAJOR, noun [See Major.] An officer appointed by the brigadier, to assist him in the management and ordering of his brigade.

Brigadier

BRIGADIE'R, noun The general officer who commands a brigade, whether of horse or foot, and in rank next below a major-general.

Brigand

BRIG'AND, noun A robber; a free booter; a lawless fellow who lives by plunder, or who belongs to a band of robbers.

Brigandage

BRIG'ANDAGE, noun Theft; robber; plunder.

Brigandine

BRIG'ANDINE, noun Anciently, a coat of mail. The name has ceased to be used, with the disuse of the thing. It consisted of thin jointed scales of plate, pliant and easy to the body.