Emily Dickinson Lexicon

brace (-d), v. [OFr < L. brachium, arm.]

Surround; encircle; bind; besiege; hem in; draw near; secure closely; take over; maintain control; hold ground; [fig.] depress; smother.

brag, v. [uncertain etymology; NW says < Welsh bragiaw, swell, shoot up.]

Boast; bluster; vaunt; swagger; show off; sound loudly; display action pridefully; [fig.] flood; run over; spring forth from the earth.

braid, v. [OE.]

Weave; plait; intertwine; twist in and out; make one from three strands; [fig.] brush; coif; smooth; groom; put into place.

brain, n. [OE; compare Gk. 'forehead'.]

1. Imagination; cognition; sensory perception; cognition; center of emotion.
2. Intelligence; understanding; consciousness; center of thought; seat of the soul.
3. Cerebrum and cerebellum; master organ of the body; terminus of the central nervous system; soft viscus mass within the skull; center that enables various human functions, abilities, capacities, connections, and sensations.
4. Memory; mind; remembrance; recollection; mental awareness.
5. Intellect; reason; logical capacity.
6. Nucleus; core; kernel.

brake, n. [ME < Middle Low German 'broken tree branches'.]

Undergrowth; brush; bushes; copse; fern plants; overgrown thicket; garden groundcover; clump of shrubs; [fig.] Eden; paradise.

brake, v. [see break, v.; archaic form of past tense “broke.”]

Interrupt; extinguish; finish; cut off; end prematurely; bring to a temporary close; [word play] harrow; crush like flax; knead like bread dough; [transferred passive]: “His Life was broken”; submit to violence at the hands of others; [fig.] sacrifice; give up; split into pieces; divide into portions to share with others; offer a portion of bread as in the sacrament ordinance (see Matthew 26:26 “Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake”).

bramble, n. [OE.]

Nettle; blackberry patch; thorn bush; scratchy shrubs; plot of prickly plants; (see Isaiah 34:13).

branch (-es), n. [Fr. < L. branca, paw of an animal.]

1. Limb; shoot of a tree; appendage of a plant; [fig.] lineage; pedigree; family group; (see Genesis 49:22).
2. Vessel; capillary; tiny channel for blood; small component of the circulatory system.

brand, n. [OE; see burn, v.]

1. Flavor; kind of liquor; type of beverage; [fig.] emotion; feeling; sensation; spiritual essence.
2. Image; figure; visage; persona; character; countenance; [fig.] soul; spirit; psyche; being; personality; identity.
3. Mark; name; stamp; seal; signature; emblem that hot metal burns on wood; [fig.] marring; scourging; smiting; whip mark; bloody stripe; striking upon the back; (cf. Isaiah 50:6).
4. Stigma; burn; identification scar; property label; mark identifying a slave; ownership emblem burned on human beings with hot metal; [fig.] abasement; humiliation; denigration; degradation; infamy; mark of reproach.

brass, adj. [OE, origin uncertain.]

Bronze; gold-colored metal; alloy of copper and zinc; [fig.] protective; steady; secure; strong; armored; rigid; immovable.