Brussels

From Dutch Brussel and French Bruxelles, from Proto-Germanic, composed of the words *brōk (“marsh”) + *sali (“building, room”).^[1] The metonymic meaning of Brussels as the European Union stems from the fact that the EU headquarters is based in Brussels.

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹʌsəlz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹʊsəlz/
• Rhymes: -ʌsəlz

Brussels

2. The capital city of Belgium.
   • 1981, Men At Work, “Down Under”, in Business as Usual:

     Buying bread from a man in Brussels / He was 6'4", and full of muscle

3. (metonymic) The administrative apparatus of the European Union.

Brussels (plural Brussels)

1. A Brussels carpet.
   • 1911, Dry Goods Economist, volume 65, number 3, page 51:

     If the same design be produced in a Brussels and in a Tapestry it will be found that the Brussels shows sharp, clean-cut outlines, where the Tapestry gives ragged, uneven effects, […]

2. A Brussels sprout.

   We cooked a big Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, Brussels, and parsnips.

From Brussel +‎ -s.

Brussels (attributive Brusselse, not comparable)

1. Of, from or pertaining to Brussels.

From Brussel +‎ -s.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrʏ.səls/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Brus‧sels

Brussels (not comparable)

1. of, from or pertaining to Brussels