[f. BRACE v.1]
1. The action of embracing (obs.), girding, binding tightly, lacing up, strengthening: see the verb.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), II. 53. Ane devill in forme of woman … quhilk … tistit him, be voluptuous brasing, to hir plesoure.
a. 1631. Donne, Serm., lxxvii. 779 a. The Brasing & beating of our Drums in the Pulpit.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 277. Oh the lacing, the bracing, the bonneting, the veiling.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. 78. The moral sinew of the English must have been strong indeed when it admitted of such stringent bracing.
2. An appliance or arrangement for tying, fastening, supporting or strengthening. lit. and fig.
1849. W. Fitzgerald, Whitaker’s Disput., 5. The Roman synagogue … hath need continually of new supports and bracings.
1861. Times, 7 Oct., 9/1. There were bracings on the top of the girders, which would have the effect of steadying them.
1883. Law Times Rep., XLIX. 139/1. The standards were not secured by any ties or bracings of any kind.
3. attrib. (or ? the ppl. a.), as in bracing-girdle, -rope; bracing-chain, a chain used to bind together the sides of a wagon bearing a heavy load.
1552. Huloet, Bracynge gyrdle, subcingulum.
1827. Steuart, Planter’s G. (1828), 295. Fixing or loosening the bracing-ropes.
