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Easily broken; apt to break; fragile; not tough or tenacious. Farewell, thou pretty, brittle piece Of fine-cut crystal. Cotton. Brittle silver ore, the mineral stephanite.

Aptness to break; fragility.

See Brokkerage.

See Brokerage.

Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.

a middleman or negotiator, between other persons, for a compensation commonly called brokerage. He takes no possession, as broker, of the subject matter of the negotiation. He generally contracts in the names of those who employ him, and not in his own. Story.

Of or pertaining to a broker or brokers, or to brokerage. [Obs.] Redeem from broking pawn the blemished crown. Shak.

A wretch; -- sometimes used humorously or in playful disparagement. [Low]

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

A noisy, blustering fellow, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome; an insolent, tyrannical fellow. Bullies seldom execute the threats they deal in. Palmerston.

ow. [Cant or Slang, U.S.] All that flourish about right of search was bunkum -- all that brag about hanging your Canada sheriff was bunkum . . . slavery speeches are all bunkum. Haliburton. To speak for Buncombe, to speak for mere show, or popularly.

A woman who picks up rags in the streets; hence, a low, vulgar woman. [Cant] Her . . . daughters, like bunters in stuff gowns. Goldsmith.

under Breeches. -- Cable buoy, an empty cask employed to buoy up the cable in rocky anchorage. -- Can buoy, a hollow buoy made of sheet or boiler iron, usually conical or pear-shaped. -- Life buoy, a float intended to support persons who have fallen into the water, until a boat can be dispatched to save them. -- Nu…

uality, appearance, sensation, or emotion, as if on fire or excessively heated; to act or rage with destructive violence; to be in a state of lively emotion or strong desire; as, the face burns; to burn with fever. Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way Luke xxiv. 32. The barge she sat in,…

d, a handsome moth (Zygæna filipendula), with crimson spots on the wings. -- Burnet saxifrage. (Bot.) See Saxifrage. -- Canadian burnet, a marsh plant (Poterium Canadensis). -- Great burnet, Wild burnet, Poterium (or Sanguisorba) oficinalis.

rst a blood vessel; to burst open the doors. My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage. Shak.

). See Bean, 1. -- Bush buck, or Bush goat (Zoöl.), a beautiful South African antelope (Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species. -- Bush cat (Zoöl.), the serval. See Serval. -- Bush chat (Zoöl.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the…

ade with very thick soles, to give an appearance of elevation to the stature; -- worn by tragic actors in ancient Greece and Rome. Used as a symbol of tragedy, or the tragic drama, as distinguished from comedy. Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here, No greater Jonson dares in socks appear. Dryden.…

Trodden by buskins; pertaining to tragedy. "The buskined stage." Milton.

A piece of leather crossing the breast, used by the men who drag sledges in coal mines.