Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.