Bren

//bɹɛn// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of Bren gun. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  2. 2
    a submachine gun operated by gas pressure; used by the British in World War II wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To burn (to set ablaze). obsolete, transitive

    "And the greene grasse that groweth they shall bren, That even the wilde beast shall dy in starved den"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Czech.
  2. 2
    A female given name, clipping of Brenda.
  3. 3
    A male given name, clipping of Brendan.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bren gunbritish englishgunsix shooter

Example

More examples

"And the greene grasse that groweth they shall bren, That even the wilde beast shall dy in starved den"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English brennen, from Old English bærnan, from Proto-Germanic *brannijaną (“to set on fire”). Cognate with German brennen, Swedish bränna. Doublet of burn; see there for more.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Czech Břeň.

Etymology 3

See Bren gun.

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