What does "brank" mean?

A metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue.

Brank

//bɹæŋk// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue. plural-normally
2
Buckwheat. UK, dialectal, uncountable
"One - third of brank-ground , or mixed with any other kind of grain or roots, is as large a proportion as can be given with safety"
3
A sort of bridle with wooden side pieces. Scotland, UK, dialectal, obsolete, plural-normally
"Your armour gude ye mauna shaw, / Nor yet appear like men o' weir; / As country lads be a' array'd, / Wi' branks and brecham on each mare."

Verb

1
To put someone in the branks.
2
To hold up and toss the head; applied to horses as spurning the bit. Scotland, UK, dialectal
3
To prance; to caper. Scotland
"Donald came branking down the brae Wi' twenty thousand men."

"Your armour gude ye mauna shaw, / Nor yet appear like men o' weir; / As country lads be a' array'd, / Wi' branks and brecham on each mare."

Etymology 1

Compare Gaelic brangus, brangas, a sort of pillory, Irish brancas, halter, or Dutch pranger, fetter.

Etymology 2

Probably of Celtic origin; compare Latin brance, brace, the Gallic name of a particularly white kind of corn.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.