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Any division extending like a branch; any arm or part connected with the main body of thing; ramification; as, the branch of an antler; the branch of a chandelier; a branch of a river; a branch of a railway. Most of the branches , or streams, were dried up. W. Irving.

A gill; a respiratory organ for breathing the air contained in water, such as many aquatic and semiaquatic animals have.

A coarse garnment or cloak; also, coarse clothing, in general. [Obs.] Chaucer.

excellence; -- especially such as in conspicuous. [Obs. or Archaic as applied to material things.] Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. Bacon. It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall. Pepys.

Well-dressed; handsome; smart; brave; -- used of persons or their clothing, etc.; as, a braw lad. "A braw new gown." Burns.

hat the waves roll over the vessel without breaking. -- A clean breach implies that everything on deck is swept away. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Distance from side to side of any surface or thing; measure across, or at right angles to the length; width.

An allowance or compensation for things broken accidentally, as in transportation or use.

Anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything; as, a chimney breast; a plow breast; the breast of a hill. Mountains on whose barren breast The laboring clouds do often rest. Milton.

The act of breathing naturally or freely; the power or capacity to breathe freely; as, I am out of breath.

To inject by breathing; to infuse; -- with into. Able to breathe life into a stone. Shak. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Gen. ii. 7.

Not breathing; holding the breath, on account of fear, expectation, or intense interest; attended with a holding of the breath; as, breathless attention. But breathless, as we grow when feeling most. Byron.

The hinder part of anything; esp., the part of a cannon, or other firearm, behind the chamber.

Class; sort; kind; -- of men, things, or qualities. Are these the breed of wits so wondered at Shak. This courtesy is not of the right breed. Shak.

A mixing together. I am not able to avouch anything for certainty, such a brewing and sophistication of them they make. Holland.

t of a judge, witness, voter, or other person in a position of trust. Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe. Hobart.

Anything made of bricks. Niches in brickwork form the most difficult part of the bricklayer's art. Tomlinson.

Anything supported at the ends, which serves to keep some other thing from resting upon the object spanned, as in engraving, watchmaking, etc., or which forms a platform or staging over which something passes or is conveyed.

Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings. The thorns and briers of reproof. Cowper. Brier root, the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and S. Walleri; -- used for tobacco pipes. -- Cat brier, Green brier, several species of Smilax (S. rotundifolia, etc.) -- Sweet brier (Rosa rubiginosa). See Sweetbrier.…

The rim, border, or upper sdge of a cup, dish, or any hollow vessel used for holding anything. Saw I that insect on this goblet's brim I would remove it with an anxious pity. Coleridge.