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brawl

noun
/bɹɔːl/UK/bɹɔl/US/bɹɑl/

Etymology

The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”); further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative. It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)). The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.

  1. derived from *bʰrenu-✻
  2. derived from *brandus✻
  3. derived from brandeler
  4. derived from branler

Definitions

  1. A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.

    • Three Ciuell brawles bred of an airie word, / By the old Capulet and Mountague, / Haue thrice diſturbd the quiet of our ſtreets.

  2. To engage in a brawl

    To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel.

    • I doe the wrong, and firſt began to braule / The ſecret miſchiefes that I ſet abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: [...]

  3. To create a disturbance

    To create a disturbance; to complain loudly.

    • Say beggar, why brawlest þou? go boune þe to þe barre.
    • How now ſir Iohn, what are you brawling here? / Doth this become your place, your time, and buſineſſe?
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. Especially of a rapid stream running over stones

      Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise.

      • To day my Lord of Amiens, and my ſelfe, / Did ſteale behinde him as he lay along / Vnder an oake, whoſe anticke roote peepes out / Vpon the brooke that brawles along this wood, [...]
      • ―When low-hung clouds each ſtar of ſummer hide, / And fireleſs are the valleys far and wide, / Where the brook brawls along the painful road, / Dark with bat haunted aſhes ſtretching broad, [...]
      • What seek we here / Amid this waste where desolation scowls, / And the red torrent, brawling down the linn, / Sings everlasting discord?

    2. To pour abuse on

      To pour abuse on; to scold.

    3. To move to and fro, to quiver, to shake.

    4. A type of dance move or step.

    5. Alternative form of branle (“dance of French origin dating from the 16th century,…

      Alternative form of branle (“dance of French origin dating from the 16th century, performed by couples in a circle or a line; the music for this dance”).

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA