An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language Part 107

2. To menace, to make a threatening appearance.

_Douglas._

3. To shake, applied to the mind; to confound, to throw into disorder; used actively.

_G.o.dscroft._

Fr. _branl-er_, to shake; Su. G. _brang-as_, c.u.m labore perrumpere velle.

BRANGILL, _s._ A kind of dance.

_Douglas._

Fr. _branle_, "a brawle, or daunce, wherein many men and women move all together;" Cotgr.

BRANIT, _part. pa._ Brawned; a term formed from E. _brawn_, the fleshy or musculous part of the body.

_Dunbar._

_To_ BRANK, _v. a._

1. To bridle, to restrain.

_G.o.dly Sangs._

2. _v. n._ To raise and toss the head, as spurning the bridle; applied to horses.

_Douglas._

3. To bridle up one's self.

_Maitland Poems._

4. To prance, to caper.

_Ramsay._

Teut. _brank-en_ and _p.r.o.ncken_, both signify, ostentare se, dare se spectandum; Germ. _prang-en_, id.; Su. G. _prunk-a_, superbire. Wachter gives _prang-en_, as also signifying, premere, coarctare.

BRANKEN, _part. pr._ Gay, lively, S. A.

_J. Nicol._

BRANKS, _s. pl._

1. A sort of bridle, often used by country people in riding. Instead of leather, it has on each side a piece of wood joined to a halter, to which a bit is sometimes added; but more frequently a kind of wooden noose resembling a muzzle, S.

_Montrose's Mem._

Within these few years, an iron bit was preserved in the steeple of Forfar, formerly used, in that very place, for torturing the unhappy creatures who were accused of witchcraft. It was called _The Witch's Branks_.

Gael. _brancas_, a halter. But our word seems originally the same with Teut. _pranghe_, _muyl-pranghe_, postomis, pastomis, confibula; instrumentum quod naribus equorum imponitur; Kilian.

2. _Branks_, I suspect, is sometimes used in S. as synon. with _jugs_ or pillory.

_Howie._

BRANKS, _s. pl._ A swelling in the chops, S. A. from the compression of the parts, as the chops of a horse are compressed by the _branks_ which he wears; the _buffets_, S. B.

BRANNOCK, _s._ The Samlet, or small fish generally known in S. by the name of _Par. Branlin_, Yorks.

BRASAND, _part. pr._ Embracing.

Fr. _bras_, the arm.

_Douglas._

_To_ BRASE, BRa.s.s, _v. a._ To bind, to tie.

_Wallace._

Fr. _embra.s.s-er_, to bind.

BRASERIS, BRASARIS, _s. pl._ Vambraces, armour for the arms.

_Wallace._

Fr. _bra.s.sar_, _bra.s.sard_, _bra.s.sart_, id.; brachiale ferreum; from _bras_, the arm, Lat. _brach-ium_.

_To_ BRASH, _v. a._ To a.s.sault, to attack.

V. ~Bresche~.

_Sir W. More._

Teut. _broes-en_, tempestuosum et furentem ventum spirare; or from A. S. _beraes-an_, impetuose proruere, irruere.