Part 783

Bracket light, a gas fixture or a lamp attached to a wall, column, etc.

Brack"et, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bracketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Bracketing] To place within brackets; to connect by brackets; to furnish with brackets.

Brack"et*ing, n. (Arch.) A series or group of brackets; brackets, collectively.

Brack"ish (&?;), a. [See Brack salt water.] Saltish, or salt in a moderate degree, as water in saline soil.

Springs in deserts found seem sweet, all brackish though they be. Byron.

Brack"ish*ness, n. The quality or state of being brackish, or somewhat salt.

Brack"y (&?;), a. Brackish. Drayton.

Bract (&?;), n. [See Bractea.] (Bot.) (a) A leaf, usually smaller than the true leaves of a plant, from the axil of which a flower stalk arises. (b) Any modified leaf, or scale, on a flower stalk or at the base of a flower.

Bracts are often inconspicuous, but sometimes large and showy, or highly colored, as in many cactaceous plants. The spathes of aroid plants are conspicuous forms of bracts.

||Brac"te*a (&?;), n. [L., a thin plate of metal or wood, gold foil.] (Bot.) A bract.

Brac"te*al (&?;), a. [Cf.F. bractéal.] Having the nature or appearance of a bract.

Brac"te*ate (&?;), a. [Cf.L. bracteatus covered with gold plate.] (Bot.) Having a bract or bracts.

Bract"ed (&?;), a. (Bot.) Furnished with bracts.

Brac"te*o*late (&?;), a. (Bot.) Furnished with bracteoles or bractlets.

Brac"te*ole (&?;), n. [L. bracteola, dim. of bractea. See Bractea.] (Bot.) Same as Bractlet.

Bract"less, a. (Bot.) Destitute of bracts.

Bract"let (&?;), n. [Bract + - let] (Bot.) A bract on the stalk of a single flower, which is itself on a main stalk that support several flowers. Gray.

Brad (&?;), n. [Cf.OE. brod, Dan. braad prick, sting, brodde ice spur, frost nail, Sw. brodd frost nail, Icel. broddr any pointed piece of iron or stell; akin to AS. brord point, spire of grass, and perh. to E. bristle. See Bristle, n.] A thin nail, usually small, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head; also, a small wire nail, with a flat circular head; sometimes, a small, tapering, square-bodied finishing nail, with a countersunk head.

Brad" awl` (&?;). A straight awl with chisel edge, used to make holes for brads, etc. Weale.

Bra*doon" (&?;), n. Same as Bridoon.

||Brae (&?;), n. [See Bray a hill.] A hillside; a slope; a bank; a hill. [Scot.] Burns.

Brag (&?;), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bragged (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bragging.] [OE. braggen to resound, blow, boast (cf. F. braguer to lead a merry life, flaunt, boast, OF. brague merriment), from Icel. braka to creak, brak noise, fr. the same root as E. break; properly then, to make a noise, boast. &?;95.] To talk about one's self, or things pertaining to one's self, in a manner intended to excite admiration, envy, or wonder; to talk boastfully; to boast; -- often followed by of; as, to brag of one's exploits, courage, or money, or of the great things one intends to do.

Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament. Shak.

Syn. -- To swagger; boast; vapor; bluster; vaunt; flourish; talk big.

Brag, v. t. To boast of. [Obs.] Shak.

Brag, n. 1. A boast or boasting; bragging; ostentatious pretense or self glorification.

Cæsar . . . made not here his brag Of "came," and "saw," and "overcame." Shak.

2. The thing which is boasted of.