Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BRANCH'LET, n.

A little branch; a twig; the subdivision of a branch. – Martyn. Asiat. Researches.

BRANCH-PE-DUN'CLE, n.

A peduncle springing from a branch. – Martyn.

BRANCH-PI'LOT, n.

A pilot who has a branch or public commission. – Laws of Massachusetts and New York.

BRANCH'Y, a.

Full of branches; having wide spreading branches. – Pope.

BRAND, n. [Sax. brand; D. brand; G. brand; Dan. brænde; Sw. brand; from bränna, brennen, to burn. See Burn.]

1. A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt, whether burning or after the fire is extinct.
2. A sword, either from brandishing, Fr. brandir, or from its glittering brightness; now obsolete, unless in poetry. – Milton.
3. A thunder-bolt. – Granville.
4. A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a criminal, or upon a cask; a stigma; any note of infamy. – Bacon. Dryden.

BRAND, v.t.

1. To burn or impress a mark with a hot iron; as, to brand a criminal, by way of punishment; or to brand a cask or any thing else, for the purpose of fixing a mark upon it.
2. To fix a mark or character of infamy, in allusion to the branding of criminals; to stigmatize as infamous; as, to brand a vice with infamy. – Rowe. Addison.

BRAND'ED, pp.

Marked with a hot iron; stigmatized.

BRAND'-GOOSE, n.

A species of Anas, or the goose kind; usually called in America brant or brent.

BRAND'ING, ppr.

Impressing a mark with a hot iron; fixing a stigma or mark of reproach.

BRAND'-IR-ON, or BRAND'ING-IR-ON, n.

1. An iron to brand with.
2. A trivet to set a pot on.

BRAND'ISH, v.t. [Fr. brandir; Port. brandir; Sp. blandir, r changed into l; It. brandire; probably allied to Fr. branler, to shake.]

1. To move or wave, as a weapon; to raise, and move in various directions; to shake or flourish; as, to brandish a sword or a cane. It often indicates threatening.
2. To play with; to flourish; as, to brandish syllogisms. – Locke.

BRAND'ISH-ED, pp.

Raised and waved in the air with a flourish.

BRAND'ISH-ER, n.

One who brandishes.

BRAND'ISH-ING, ppr.

Raising and waving in the air; flourishing.

BRAND'LING, n.

A kind of worm. – Walton.

BRAND'-NEW, a. [See Brand.]

Quite new; bright as a brand of fire. – Tatler.

BRAN'DY, n. [D. branden; Ger. brennen, to distil; branden, to boil; brenner, a distiller; G. branntwein; Fr. brandevin, brandy. See Burn.]

An ardent spirit distilled from wine. The same name is now given to spirit distilled from other liquors, and in the United States particularly to that which is distilled from cider and peaches.

BRAN'DY-WINE, n.

Brandy. – Wiseman.

BRAN'GLE, n. [Russ. bran, war, strife, noise, broil; branyu, to hinder, to scold; L. frendeo. Qu. wrangle. Brangle, in Scottish, signifies to shake, or to threaten; Fr. branler.]

A wrangle; a squabble; a noisy contest or dispute. – Swift.

BRAN'GLE, v.i.

To wrangle; to dispute contentiously; to squabble. – Swift.

BRAN'GLE-MENT, n.

Wrangle; brangle.

BRAN'GLER, n.

A quarrelsome person.

BRAN'GLING, n.

A quarrel. – Whitlock.

BRANK, n. [So named probably from its joints, breaks. “Galliæ quoque suum genus farris dedere; quod illic brance vocant, apud nos sandalum nitidissimi grani.” – Plin. 18. 7.]

1. Buckwheat, a species of Polygonum; a grain cultivated mostly for beasts and poultry; but in the United States, the flour is much used for making breakfast cakes.
2. In some parts of England and Scotland, a scolding-bridle, an instrument for correcting scolding women. It consists of a head-piece, which incloses the head of the offender, and of a sharp iron which enters the mouth and restrains the tongue. – Plott. Encyc.

BRANK'UR-SINE, n. [brank and ursus, a bear.]

Bear's-breech, or Acanthus, a genus of plants, of several species. The leaves of the common sort are said to have furnished the model of the Corinthian capitals.