Brat
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A human child. countable, slang, uncountable
""So... you want to have kids someday?" "Uh... well, yes. I always figured I'd have a couple brats of my own someday..." "That's still doable, you know." "I know, but the process is a lot more complicated and less intimate, and --""
- 2 Bratwurst. informal
"There are many people loitering, eating ice cream, talking, eating brats."
- 3 A thin bed of coal mixed with pyrites or carbonate of lime.
- 4 Acronym of bananas, rice, apple sauce, toast, the basis of a diet formerly recommended for an upset stomach. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
"For diarrhea caused by a stomach virus or a meal that didn’t agree with you, try the BRAT diet, says James Lee, MD, gastroenterologist with St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif."
- 5 a small pork sausage wordnet
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- 6 A human child.; A child who is regarded as mischievous, unruly, spoiled, or selfish. countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable
"a spoiled brat"
- 7 Acronym of Bradley reactive armor tile. US, abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
- 8 a very troublesome child wordnet
- 9 A human child.; The qualities possessed by a confident and assertive woman. neologism, slang, uncountable
"Here are the people and the styles at the DNC that embodied the brat ethos."
- 10 A human child.; A child (at any age) of an active member of the military or the diplomatic service. countable, slang, uncountable
"an army brat"
- 11 A human child.; A submissive partner who is disobedient and unruly. countable, slang, uncountable
- 12 A turbot or flatfish. countable, uncountable
"For the crabby awd dealers in ling, cod, and brats / And the vurgins that tempt us wi' nice maiden skyet..."
- 13 A rough cloak or ragged garment. countable, historical, uncountable
"The chief's daughter wears a brat and léine girdled with a criss."
- 14 A coarse kind of apron for keeping the clothes clean; a bib. Scotland, UK, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
"[She] had still on the rough worsted apron of nappy homespun wool, called a "brat"."
- 15 The young of an animal. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Their ſhoulders broad, for complet armour fit, Their lims more large and of a bigger ſize Than all the brats yſprong from Typhons loins:"
- 1 To act in a bratty manner as the submissive. intransitive
"Ruthie was Ed's own submissive, a short, pretty, feisty ash-blonde New York City native who combined her submission to Ed with a good deal of mischievous bratting and a lot of sharp, intelligent conversation […]"
- 1 Characteristic of a confident and assertive woman. neologism
"kamala IS brat"
Example
More examples"Thanks, I hear you've been taking care of my little brat of a brother."
Etymology
Early Modern English (c. 1500) slang term meaning "beggar's child". Possibly from Scots bratchet (“bitch, hound”). Another possibility is that it was originally a dialectal word, from northern and western England and the Midlands, for a "makeshift or ragged garment," from Old English bratt (“cloak”), which is from a Celtic source (Old Irish brat (“cloak, cloth”)). In the sense "characteristic of a confident and assertive woman", coined by English singer and songwriter Charli XCX in her 2024 album Brat.
Clipping of bratwurst, from German Bratwurst.