Brannigan
name, noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 binge, bender, booze-up (where alcohol is drunk)
"In the last decade of his life he went for long stretches without touching booze. Then stresses and strains would build up inside him and he would embark on a brannigan."
- 2 brawl, fight
"The second round was a brannigan from bell to bell. Both men went out for blood and both got it."
- 1 A surname from Irish.
Example
More examples"In the last decade of his life he went for long stretches without touching booze. Then stresses and strains would build up inside him and he would embark on a brannigan."
Etymology
Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Branagáin (“descendant of Branagán”), a personal name derived from a hypocoristic form of bran (“raven”).
Bran(n)- refers to an ancient king of Wales, his name meaning "raven" in Old Welsh. His head is said to be buried under the Tower of London & is why, it is said, that ravens flock to it. "-igan" is an Anglicization of the Brythonic Gaelic surname suffix "-yggan" which means "descendant of".
Related phrases
More for "brannigan"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.