Part 790

||Bran`chi*os"to*ma (&?;), n. [NL., fr., Gr. &?; gill + &?; mouth.] (Zoöl.) The lancelet. See Amphioxus.

||Bran"chi*u"ra (&?;), n. pl. [NL., fr., Gr. &?; gill + &?; tail.] (Zoöl.) A group of Entomostraca, with suctorial mouths, including species parasitic on fishes, as the carp lice (Argulus).

Branch"less (&?;), a. Destitute of branches or shoots; without any valuable product; barren; naked.

Branch"let (&?;), n. [Branch + - let.] A little branch; a twig.

Branch" pi`lot (&?;). A pilot who has a branch or commission, as from Trinity House, England, for special navigation.

Branch"y (&?;), a. Full of branches; having wide-spreading branches; consisting of branches.

Beneath thy branchy bowers of thickest gloom. J. Scott.

Brand (&?;), n. [OE. brand, brond, AS. brand brond brand, sword, from byrnan, beornan, to burn; akin to D., Dan., Sw., & G. brand brand, Icel. brandr a brand, blade of a sword. √32. See Burn, v. t., and cf. Brandish.] 1. A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt, whether burning or after the fire is extinct.

Snatching a live brand from a wigwam, Mason threw it on a matted roof. Palfrey.

2. A sword, so called from its glittering or flashing brightness. [Poetic] Tennyson.

Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand. Milton.

3. A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a cask, to designate the quality, manufacturer, etc., of the contents, or upon an animal, to designate ownership; -- also, a mark for a similar purpose made in any other way, as with a stencil. Hence, figurately: Quality; kind; grade; as, a good brand of flour.

4. A mark put upon criminals with a hot iron. Hence: Any mark of infamy or vice; a stigma.

The brand of private vice. Channing.

5. An instrument to brand with; a branding iron.

6. (Bot.) Any minute fungus which produces a burnt appearance in plants. The brands are of many species and several genera of the order Pucciniæi.

Brand (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Branded; p. pr. & vb. n. Branding.]. 1. To burn a distinctive mark into or upon with a hot iron, to indicate quality, ownership, etc., or to mark as infamous (as a convict).

2. To put an actual distinctive mark upon in any other way, as with a stencil, to show quality of contents, name of manufacture, etc.

3. Fig.: To fix a mark of infamy, or a stigma, upon.

The Inquisition branded its victims with infamy. Prescott.

There were the enormities, branded and condemned by the first and most natural verdict of common humanity. South.

4. To mark or impress indelibly, as with a hot iron.

As if it were branded on my mind. Geo. Eliot.

Brand"er (&?;), n. 1. One who, or that which, brands; a branding iron.

2. A gridiron. [Scot.]

Brand" goose` (&?;). [Prob. fr. 1st brand + goose: cf. Sw. brandgås. Cf. Brant.] (Zoöl.) A species of wild goose (Branta bernicla) usually called in America brant. See Brant.

Bran"died (&?;), a. Mingled with brandy; made stronger by the addition of brandy; flavored or treated with brandy; as, brandied peaches.

Brand"ing i`*ron (&?;). An iron to brand with.