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A scolding bridle, an instrument formerly used for correcting scolding women. It was an iron frame surrounding the head and having a triangular piece entering the mouth of the scold.

A sum formerly levied to pay the expense of coinage; -- now called seigniorage.

A child; an offspring; -- formerly used in a good sense, but now usually in a contemptuous sense. "This brat is none of mine." Shak. "A beggar's brat." Swift. O Israel! O household of the Lord! O Abraham's brats! O brood of blessed seed! Gascoigne.

he act of braving; defiance; bravado. [Obs.] Reform, then, without bravery or scandal of former times and persons.

the range and flexibility of a singer's voice, or the technical force and skill of a performer; virtuoso music. Aria di bravura ( Etym: [It.], a florid air demanding brilliant execution.

t to two semibreves or four minims. When dotted, it is equal to three semibreves. It was formerly of a square figure (as thus: Moore.

from the north; -- now usually called southerly buster. It blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney, and carried clouds of dust into the city.

in, or loop for attaching it to a garment; now worn at the breast by women; a breastpin. Formerly worn by men on the hat. Honor 's a good brooch to wear in a man's hat. B. Jonson.

with flowers, usually blue, in axillary racemes. The American species is V. Americana. [Formerly written broklempe or broklympe.]

fellow. Brown Bess, the old regulation flintlock smoothbore musket, with bronzed barrel, formerly used in the British army. -- Brown bread (a) Dark colored bread; esp. a kind made of unbolted wheat flour, sometimes called in the United States Graham bread. "He would mouth with a beggar though she smelt brown bread and…

A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.

A curl of hair, esp. a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled. Earlocks in tight buckles on each side of a lantern face. W. Irving. Lets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year. Addison.

A kind of fur prepared from lambskin dressed with the wool on; -- used formerly as an edging and ornament, esp. of scholastic habits.

of the horn quality of tone, shorter and more conical that the trumpet, sometimes keyed; formerly much used in military bands, very rarely in the orchestra; now superseded by the cornet; -- called also the Kent bugle.

Jersey to the Gulf of Mexico, which has very large tuberous and farinaceous rootstocks, formerly used by the Indians for a sort of bread, and by the negroes as an ingredient in making beer; -- called also bamboo brier and China brier.

of remarkable ferocity, courage, and tenacity of grip; -- so named, probably, from being formerly employed in baiting bulls.

A covered house at a theater, etc., in honor of some favorite performer. [Cant]

g a large, strong, or gross body; stout; lusty; -- now used chiefly of human beings, but formerly of animals, in the sense of stately or beautiful, and of inanimate things that were huge and bulky. "Burly sacks." Drayton. In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was] somewhat corpulent and burly. Sir T. More. Bur…

ines at the ends (F. bouts), and bounds are those on the sides, or sidings, as they were formerly termed. Burrill. -- Bead and butt. See under Bead. -- Butt and butt, joining end to end without overlapping, as planks. -- Butt weld (Mech.), a butt joint, made by welding together the flat ends, or edges, of a piece of…

r, a thing private or avoiding notice; as, by-line, by-place, by-play, by-street. It was formerly more freely used in composition than it is now; as, by-business, by-concernment, by- design, by-interest, etc.