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Brank
//bɹæŋk// noun, verb
Definitions
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."
Etymology
Etymology 1
Compare Gaelic brangus, brangas, a sort of pillory, Irish brancas, halter, or Dutch pranger, fetter.
Etymology 2
Compare Gaelic brangus, brangas, a sort of pillory, Irish brancas, halter, or Dutch pranger, fetter.
Etymology 3
Probably of Celtic origin; compare Latin brance, brace, the Gallic name of a particularly white kind of corn.
See also for "brank"
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