/browbeat-meaning

/browbeat-meaning-etymology

-) Verb. 

-) Pronunciation and accent: braʊbiːt. 

-) Etymology: it is analyzed into BROW (noun) + BEAT (verb).

-) Preterite tense: browbeat.

-) Preterite participle: browbeaten. 

-) Present participle: browbeating.

-) It is dated from the end of 1500.

-) Meaning: to intimidate by a stern look; to discourage by looking sternly. Hence: to bully; intimidate by words or in an aggressive manner.

-) Translation: intimidar con la mirada, in Spanish; intimidire ammiccando torvamente, in Italian; intimider avec le regard, in French.

They browbeat me and frightened me till I did as I was told.

A. Trollope… Can you forgive her? 1864

-) With the preposition “into”: the state resulting from the browbeating:

There had been some woman, who […] had been cheated and browbeaten into silence.

C. Yonge… Monthly Packet… 1851-1899

I admired the pluck of my little friend, that would not let him be browbeaten into paying it out before he was ready, though in apparent danger from the Indian with the bad-looking eyes.

F. Ober… Travels in Mexico… 1883

-) English words derived from “browbeat”:  browbeating, browbeater.

 

 

/brisk-verb-meaning

/brisk-verb-meaning-etymology

-) Verb.

-) Pronunciation: brɪsk.

-) Etymology: from the adjective BRISK.

-) Preterite tense, preterite participle: brisked. 

-) Present participle: brisking.

-) It is dated from the end of 1500.

-) Transitive: -) 1. To render (an animated being) brisk.

-) Synonyms for “brisk”: quicken, bestir.

-) Antonyms: mope, torporize, torpefy, numb.

-) Translation: attivizzare, dinamizzare, in Italian; dynamiser, in French; dinamizar, in Spanish.

A cup of wine that brisks up me.

G. Thornbury… Art and Nature… 1856

Next morning, Laurance woke him at eight, and Dan grumbled about getting up, although he was assured that he had slept the clock round. However a cold bath soon brisked him up, and he came down to the sitting-room with an excellent appetite for breakfast.

F. Hume… The Mystery Queen… 1912

-) 2. To make (wind, fire, etc) brisk.

-) 3. (Of someone) to effect (something) with briskness.

Modestine brisked up her pace for perhaps three steps, and then relapsed into her former minuet.

Stevenson… Travels… 1879

-) 4. To translocate, move or transfer (something or someone) with briskness.

-) Intransitive: -) 1. (Of someone) to become brisk; to behave or move briskly; to change from one state of dullness to one of briskness, promptness, activity, etc.

-) Synonyms: bustle, bestir.

-) Antonyms: laze, dull.

Our horses brisked up wonderfully, the grey forgot that he was bearing so fat a man as Mr. Briggs, the chestnut was oblivious of his packs, and all at a swinging canter came up to the farm door.

S. Baring-Gould… Iceland… 1863

"Well, I can't understand all that," said […] John, with rueful sulkiness, from which he brisked up to ask… 

W. Howells… Questionable Shapes… 1903

… I brisked out of bed…

H. Wilson… Ruggles… 1915

-) 2. (Of fact, action, thing, etc.) to become brisk.

-) Antonym: dull.

Things have been dull all the fall, but I thought they'd brisk up come winter. They haven't.

Howells… The Rise… 1884

-) 3. (Of wind, fire, etc.) to become brisk.

-) Antonyms: dull, weaken.

-) English words derived from “brisk”: brisk (adj.), brisken, briskening, briskish, briskly, briskness, brisky, brisked, brisking

 

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/brisk-meaning

/brisk-meaning-etymology-synonyms

-) Adjective.

-) Pronunciation: brɪsk.

-) Etymology: of uncertain origin.

-) Comparative form: brisker. Superlative form: briskest.

-) It is dated from the end of 1300.

-) 1. -) a. (Of an animated being) moving with quickness; quick in action or movement; acting briskly or actively. 

-) Synonyms for “brisk”: active, quick, cheery, nimble, sprightly, energetic, zippy, spry, perk.

-) Antonyms of “brisk”: dull, moped, inactive, sluggish, lazy, slothful.

-) Translation: activo, dinámico, in Spanish; expéditif, actif, dynamique, in French; dinamico, attivo, in Italian.

When the ladies were gone, which was as soon as Amelia could prevail on Mrs. James to depart, Colonel Bath, who had been pretty brisk with champagne at dinner, soon began to display his magnanimity.

Fielding… Amelia… 1751

According to this most pleasing of all naturalists, the microscope discovers that the seminal liquor, not only of males, but of females also, abounds in these moving little animals which have been mentioned above, and that they appear equally brisk in either fluid.

Goldsmith… A History of the Earth… 1774

… so I became sullen and silent, my opponent in an equal degree brisk and loquacious. 

Howard… Rattlin the Reefer… 1834

… the old gentleman came in as brisk as need be.

Dickens… Oliver… 1838

… it was a common saying among their friends, that it was impossible to say which looked the happier, Tim as he sat calmly smiling in his elbow-chair on one side of the fire, or his brisk little wife chatting and laughing, and constantly bustling in and out of hers, on the other.

Dickens… Nicholas… 1839

… she looked brisk with impatience, laughing a low laugh…

G. Meredith… The Shaving… 1856

'Beg pardon, sir,' said a brisk waiter, rubbing the table. 'Wish see bed-room?'

Dickens… Little Dorrit… 1857

-) b. (Of the action or of the motion of an animated being) done with quickness, promptness or activity.

-) Translation: activo, in Spanish; actif, in French; attivo, in Italian.

The group before him consisted of French and Spanish peasants, the inhabitants of a neighbouring hamlet, some of whom were performing a sprightly dance, the women with castanets in their hands, to the sounds of a lute and a tamborine, till, from the brisk melody of France, the music softened into a slow movement....

A. Radcliffe… The Mysteries… 1794

… they proceeded onward at a brisk pace.

Dickens… Barnaby… 1841

They had some medicine in their chest; and this man of sad experience showed Mark how and when to administer it, and how he could best alleviate the sufferings of Martin. His attentions did not stop there; for he was backwards and forwards constantly, and rendered Mark good service in all his brisk attempts to make their situation more endurable.

Dickens… Martin Chuzzlewit… 1844

"It is wonderful," says Pliny, "how the mind is stirred to activity by brisk bodily exercise."

Pater… Marius… 1885

A brisk tattoo of knuckles on the oaken door stopped him. Bill came in, grinning with satisfaction over something.

Bower… The Gringos… 1913

No one made reply to this; it seemed scarcely worth while. Every man of them rode humped away from the wind, his head drawn down as close to his shoulders as might be. Conversation under those conditions was not likely to become brisk.

Bower… The Happy Family… 1910

The bells pretty well covered our horses from their necks to their haunches, a pair of gallant grays urged to their briskest pace by the driver…

Howells… Familiar Spanish Travels… 1913

-) 2. Metaphor:

-) a. (Of a beverage or a liquor) agreeably sharp; spirited; effervescent.

-) Antonyms: unspirited, insipid, flat, stale.

-) Translation: brusco, in Italian; agréablement spiritueux, in French; agradablemente espiritoso, in Spanish.

And the Bavarian beer, my dear friend, how good and brisk and light it is!

Thackeray… Roundabout Papers… 1860

-) b. (Of the air) fresh, keen.

The air was brisk.  

B. Disraeli… Venetia… 1837

The sun was bright, the air brisk and invigorating.

Thackeray… The History of Pendennis… 1850

-) c. (Of wind, fire, cold, shower, etc) vigorous.

We had been two days almost totally becalmed, when, a brisk gale rising as we were in sight in Dunkirk, we saw a vessel making full sail towards us.

Fielding… Mr. Jonathan Wild… 1743 

… the fire must be brisk and clear.

The Cook and Housewife’s Manual… 1826

A brisk shower, with severe thunder and lightning, came on about dusk

Poe… Arthur… 1838

When the entire chimney had thus been raised, and had been properly bound in with outward props, a brisk fire was kindled, and kept going until it was burned to something like a brick-red.

Cooper… The Deerslayer… 1841

A breeze from the north brought this stratum of cloud and, being a little brisk in force, rippled the entire surface of the sea.

Scoresby… Voyage to Australia… 1859

A brisk northeasterly wind was blowing, causing the bosom of the river to flash in ripples of light.

Black… Macleod of Dare… 1878

Mrs. Lander realized when the ship came to anchor in the stream at Liverpool that she had not been seasick a moment during the voyage. In the brisk cold of the winter morning, as they came ashore in the tug, she fancied a property of health in the European atmosphere, which she was sure would bring her right up, if she stayed long enough…

Howells… Ragged Lady… 1899

-) d. (Of a purgative, drug, etc.) drastic.

… as our patient was costive, he was ordered to take five grains of calomel at bed-time, and to follow this with a brisk purgative on the following morning.

The Lancet, edited by Wakley… 1823?

-) e. (Of any fact, as a trade, business, etc., in which interaction of people occurs) characterized by briskness.

It had been a brisk market.

Scott… The Two Drovers… 1827

He walked into the market while they were getting breakfast ready for him at the Inn; and though it was the same market as of old, crowded by the same buyers and sellers; brisk with the same business; noisy with the same confusion of tongues and cluttering of fowls in coops; […]; still it was strangely changed to Tom.

Dickens… Martin… 1844

When the supper, which was very brisk and gay, was over, and Captain Costigan and Mrs. Bolton had partaken of some of the rack-punch that is so fragrant at Vauxhall, the bill was called and discharged by Pen with great generosity… 

Thackeray… The History… 1850

… artificers in wood abounded, and the timber trade was brisk.

T. Hardy… A Changed Man and other Tales… 1913

Their small mill was only adapted for the supply of certain kinds of lumber, for which there was now not much demand, and they had not enough money to remodel it, while business would not get brisk again until the spring.

H. Bindloss… Carmen's Messenger… 1917

-) English words derived from BRISK: brisk (verb), brisken, briskening, briskish, briskly, briskness, brisky, brisked, brisking.

 

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/bribe-meaning-etymology

/bribe-meaning-etymology

-) Noun.

-) Plural: bribes.

-) Pronunciation: braɪb.

-) Etymology: from Old French bribe “piece of bread, esp. piece of bread given to a beggar, scrap”. In modern French bribe is for “little quantity of anything”. There are some hypotheses about the cognateness of this bribe with the Spanish briba, bribón and the Italian birba, birbone, birbante, but the question is undecided.

-) It is dated from the end of 1300.

-) 1. Obsolete meaning: a thing stolen or robbed; theft, robbery; plunder. 

-) 2. A gift offered or promised unduly or subreptitiously to induce a person to act in the interest of the briber, as to neglect to do what the bribee is supposed to do in his office, duty or employment; what is given or promised in the attempt to bribe. Hence, anything given or promised to induce a person to act against his will, his mood, his custom.

-) Translation: in Italian: sbruffo; Spanish: soborno; French: subornation.

-) Synonyms for “bribe”: tip; bung (slang); gratuity; grease (slang); payola (jocular); poultice (Australian slang); sling (Australian); back-hander (slang).

Beside resentment, I had another motive of my backwardness to agree to such a meeting; and this was --fear. I apprehended, and surely not without reason, that the annuity was rather meant as a bribe than a recompence.

Fielding… Amelia… 1751

The strictness of Peter's fidelity yielded to the persuasions of Ferdinand, though no bribe could tempt him to incur the resentment of the marquis, by permitting an escape.

Radcliffe... A Sicilian Romance... 1790

'Which of them can say for his honesty, what I can say for mine; which of them has refused a minister's bribe of one thousand pounds a year, to resign his seat in favour of another? Not one.'

Dickens… Barnaby Rudge… 1841

[He] by arts and bribes, prevailed on Sir Robert Clifford to betray his employers.

Dickens… A Child’s History… 1853

-) Words derivated from BRIBE: bribe (verb), bribable, bribeable, bribability, bribeability, briberess, bribed, bribee, briber, bribing, unbribable, unbribed, rebribe, bribery, bribe-taker, bribe-taking; bribe-free.

 

 

/brag-meaning

/brag-meaning-etymology-synonyms-antonyms

-) Verb.

-) Pronunciation: bræg.

-) Etymology: from Middle English braggen “to trumpet; boast”, from Old French braguer “to flaunt, brag”.

-) Preterite tense: bragged.

-) Preterite participle: bragged.

-) Present participle: bragging.

-) It is dated from the end of 1300.

-) Intransitive: -) 1. Literal and obsolete meaning: of a trumpet: to be played loudly.

-) 2. To be a bragger; to talk boastingly.

-) Synonyms for “brag”: to vaunt, boast, swagger; boast.

-) Antonyms: disclaim something, disavow.

-) Translation: jactarse de, in Spanish; se vanter, in French; vantarsi, in Italian.

-) With the preposition “of” (or “about”) + a noun or a gerund which stand for the subject:

… he liked to brag about his courage, and how he would do provided he should see a bear.

Graham's Illustrated Magazine, 1840-1858

… Gumbo, in the inn-kitchen, where the townsfolk drank their mug of ale by the great fire, bragged of his young master's splendid house in Virginia, and of the immense wealth to which he was heir.

Makepeace… The Virginians… 1859

He did not brag about his victories.

Makepeace… The Virginians… 1859

I later learned that this grasping owner had bragged of making a profit of $98,000 in a single year.

C. Beers… A Mind… 1908

-) With the preposition “to” + noun of the person to whom the bragger talks:

You bragged to those ladies about our dining-cars.

Howells… Their Silver Wedding Journey… 1899

-) Transitive: -) 1. To assert boastingly; to boast (the direct object is a subordinate clause introduced by “that”).

[The duke] hath oftentimes bragged openly in parliament that he had made the king yield to this.

G. Craik… A pictorial history of England… 1841

-) 2. To deceive or impose upon (someone) by boasting. (It is rarely used).

-) 3. Archaic: to boast of (something). 

-) Words derived from the verb “brag”: bragger, brag (noun), braggart, braggartly, braggartism, braggartry, braggery, bragging, braggingly, bragless.

 

 

 

/bound-meaning

/bound-meaning-etymology-synonyms

-) Noun.

-) Plural: bounds.

-) Pronunciation: baʊnd.

-) Etymology: from verb BOUND “to leap”, from French bondir “resound; to leap, rebound”.

-) It is dated from the end of 1500.

-) Meaning: -) a. Act of bounding; a propelling oneself upward with one or both legs, either to change position or to locomote..-) b. Act of bounding; an elastic spring of something after being forced against a surface; an elastic movement upward or onward.

-) Synonyms for “bound”: to jump, spring, leap.

-) Translation: salto, in Spanish; salto, in Italian; saut, in French.

They all seize it [the prey] with a bound, at the same time expressing their fierce pleasure with a roar.

O. Goldsmith… A History of the Earth… 1774

Scarce any of the animals with short legs and long bodies, pursue their prey; but, knowing their own incapacity to overtake it by swiftness, either creep upon it in its retreats, or wait in ambush and seize it with a bound.

O. Goldsmith… A History of the Earth… 1774

The cat can leap several feet at a bound; and the tiger, who is ten times as long, can no doubt spring proportionably.

O. Goldsmith… A History of the Earth… 1774

From the peculiar structure of the kanguroo, there can be little doubt that its principal progressive motion is performed by leaps. It has, in fact, been seen to spring over twenty feet at a bound.

D. Brewster… The Edinburgh encyclopaedia… 1808

-) Words derived from “bound”: bound (verb), rebound, bounder, bounding.

 

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/bold-meaning

/bold-meaning-etymology

-) Adjective.

-) Pronunciation: bəʊld.  

-) Etymology: from Middle English bald.

-) Comparative form: bolder.

-) Superlative form: boldest.

-) It is dated from the end of 1000.

-) 1. (Of a person or another animal) who manifests boldness or courage; acting without fear or without apparent fear.

-) Synonyms for “bold”: courageous, daring, fearless, intrepid, fearless, dauntless, valiant, audacious.

-) Antonyms of “bold”: timid, fearful, cowardly, shy, timid.

-) Translation: courageux, in French; corajudo, in Spanish; coraggioso, in Italian.

… some of the English being on shore filling their water-casks, the Spaniards became bolder, and watching an opportunity when the sailors were hard at work, poured down with their 200 horse from the hills, slew some of them, and made a few prisoners.

R. Kerr… Voyages and Travels… 1824

For many hours the immediate vicinity of the low framework upon which I lay, had been literally swarming with rats. They were wild, bold, ravenous -- their red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited but for motionless on my part to make me their prey.

E. Poe… The Pit… 1842

At first, the ravenous animals were startled and terrified at the change -- at the cessation of movement. They shrank alarmedly back; many sought the well. But this was only for a moment. I had not counted in vain upon their voracity. Observing that I remained without motion, one or two of the boldest leaped upon the framework, and smelt at the surcingle.

E. Poe… The Pit… 1842

… in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all. 

E. Poe… The Masque… 1842

I do not believe the boldest of them ever ventured to address a compliment to her.

Carey… Only the governess… 1889

-) To make bold: to venture courageously (to do a thing):

About an hour ago, I made bold to thrust myself among a group of the crew. 

E. Poe… MS. Found in a Bottle… 1833

We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.

E. Poe… The Cask… 1846

-) 2. (Of a personal action) manifesting boldness or courage.

-) Synonyms: daring, brave.

On our walks, we were unmolested, […] but their conduct was bolder and more unconcerned than that of the Taheitians.

R. Kerr… Voyages and Travels… 1824

The method of the theft was not less ingenious than bold.

E. Poe… The Purloined Letter… 1844

-) 3. (Of something corporeal) standing prominently as if boldly.

One of the places was in the cliff of the sea, about half way down from the summit, in a strong bold vein, containing some copper ore.

J. Williams… Natural History… 1789

It contains five figures in bold relief, each twenty-four inches high.

The Gentleman's Magazine… 1842

-) 4. -) a. (Of a coast, shore, etc.) steep; abrupt; rising steeply from deep water. -) b. (Of water near a steep shore) deep.

There are no shoals or other dangers about the island, the shores being remarkably bold and the water deep.

E. Poe… The Narrative… 1838

… the ocean is as deep there as might have been anticipated in the neighbourhood of a bold coast.

C. Lyel… Principles of geology… 1840

The depth of the ocean around the coast, from three to four miles distance from the shore, is generally from twenty to thirty fathoms, and bold water extends close to the cliffs and shores.

Haliburton… An historical and statistical account… 1829

-) Words derived from “bold”: boldly, boldness.

 

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