brack
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɹæk/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch brac (whence Dutch brak). More at brackish.
Noun
brack (uncountable)
- (obsolete) Salty or brackish water.
- 1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “The Moone-calfe”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC:
- The very earth to fill the hungry mawe;
When they far'd best, they fed on Fearne and brack,
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Noun
brack (plural bracks)
- An opening caused by the parting of a solid body; a crack or breach.
- 1624 June 6 (licensing date), John Fletcher, “A Wife for a Moneth”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene i:
- You may find time out in eternity,
Deceit and violence in heavenly Justice,
Life in the grave, and death among the blessed,
Ere stain or brack in her sweet reputation.
- A flaw in cloth.
- 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid[1], London: T. Passinger, page 164:
- […] You must take care that all the bracks and rents in the Linen be duly mended.
Etymology 3
Shortening.
Noun
brack (countable and uncountable, plural bracks)
- Barmbrack.
- 2020 January 6, Joe Murtagh, Colin Barrett, 01:18:44 from the start, in Calm With Horses (film), spoken by Hector (David Wilmott):
- MAIRE MIRKIN (played by Brid Brennan): ”Sit down please the both of you. You’ve intruded right into the middle of our nightcap, young man. I was just about to serve a toddy to Hector and myself. Can I fix you one?”.
ARM (played by Cosmo Jarvis): A wha…?
HECTOR: Do, dear, yeah. And, um (clicks tongue) cut us a few wodges of brack while you’re at it.
Etymology 4
From black
Adjective
brack (comparative bracker or more brack, superlative brackest or most brack)
- Pronunciation spelling of black.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:brack.
See also
Further reading
- “brack”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Scots
Verb
brack (third-person singular simple present brackin, present participle brackit, simple past brackit, past participle brackit)
- Doric Scots form of brak (“to break”)
- Mind an da brack aat!
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)