Brank vs Brak - What's the difference?
brank | brak |
(usually, in the plural) A metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue
(obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect, usually, in the plural) A sort of bridle with wooden side pieces.
To put someone in the branks
(UK, Scotland, dialect) To hold up and toss the head; applied to horses as spurning the bit.
(Scotland) To prance; to caper.
(South Africa) Brackish.
* 1995 , Bill Sheat, Gerald Schofield, Complete Gardening in Southern Africa (page 437)
As nouns the difference between brank and brak
is that brank is (usually|in the plural) a metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue or brank can be (uk|dialect) buckwheat while brak is shack, hut.As a verb brank
is to put someone in the branks.brank
English
Etymology 1
Compare Gaelic brangus'', ''brangas'', a sort of pillory, Irish ''brancas'', halter, or Dutch ''pranger , fetter.Noun
(en noun)- (Jamieson)
Verb
(en verb)- (Jamieson)
Etymology 2
Probably of Celtic origin; compare (etyl) (lena) brance, brace, the Gallic name of a particularly white kind of corn.Anagrams
*brak
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Brak' soils, which continue to be a subject of research, are unlikely to provide a major stumbling block