Search the Dictionary

To brace one's self, to call up one's energies. "He braced himself for an effort which he was little able to make." J. D. Forbes. - To brace to (Naut.), to turn (a yard) by checking or easing off the lee brace, and hauling in the weather one, to assist in tacking. -- To brace up (Naut.), to bring (a yard) nearer the d…

ting for the blind in which the characters are represented by tangible points or dots. It was invented by Louis Braille, a French teacher of the blind.

ence, Fig.: To destroy; to put an end to; to defeat. There thou mayst brain him. Shak. It was the swift celerity of the death . . . That brained my purpose. Shak.

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 native oxide of manganese, of dark brownish black color. It was named from a Mr. Braun of Gotha.

To adorn; to make fine or showy. [Obs.] Thou [a tailor whom Grunio was browbeating] hast braved meny men; brave not me; I'll neither be faced or braved. Shak.

muscular part of the body; sometimes, the arm. Brawn without brains is thine. Dryden. It was ordained that murderers should be brent on the brawn of the left hand. E. Hall. And in my vantbrace put this withered brawn. Shak.

to brazen the matter through. Sabina brazened it out before Mrs. Wygram, but inwardly she was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect. W. Black.

A part of the vestment of the high priest, worn upon the front of the ephod. It was a double piece of richly embroidered stuff, a span square, set with twelve precious stones, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. See Ephod.

To promote free respiration in; to exercise. And every man should beat thee. I think thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon thee. Shak.

e with, breeches. A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. Macaulay.

A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes. His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue. Coleridge.

te; to instruct; to form by education; to train; -- sometimes followed by up. But no care was taken to breed him a Protestant. Bp. Burnet. His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in. Locke.

One who, or that which, breeds, produces, brings up, etc. She was a great breeder. Dr. A. Carlyle. Italy and Rome have been the best breeders of worthy men. Ascham.

Smooth; unwrinkled. [Scot.] Your bonnie brow was brent. Burns.

The official title applied to that one of the Anglo-Saxon chieftains who was chosen by the other chiefs to lead them in their warfare against the British tribes. Brande & C.

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

To attend to the business, or go through the processes, of brewing or making beer. I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour. Shak.

lled from a hospital built in 1553 near St. Bride's (or Bridget's) well, in London, which was subsequently a penal workhouse.

aw. This word is applied also to a statement of the heads or points of a law argument. It was not without some reference to it that I perused many a brief. Sir J. Stephen.