Also 2–3 bracc (Orm.), 6 Sc. brek, 6–7 bracke, 6–8 brak. See BRECK. [Two formations: (1) in Ormin a. ON. brak (= OE. ʓebræc, OS. gibrak) creaking noise, f. OTeut. brekan to break: cf. L. fragor, f. stem of frangĕre. (2) In later use, a parallel form to BREAK sb., f. BREAK vb.]
I. ME., from ON. brak.
† 1. Noise, outcry. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1178. Shep iss all unnskaþefull … & makeþþ itt nan mikell bracc. Ibid., 1186. Jesu Crist … toc þildiliȝ wiþþutenn bracc, Þatt mann himm band.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XIII. vi. 85. For all the brek and sterage that hes bene.
II. mod., f. BREAK v. Cf. BREAK sb., BRECK.
† 2. A breaking, breach, rupture. Still Sc.
1540. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, II. vi. (1634), 130. Heale this brack and wound by sowing both sides of it together again with a silken thread.
a. 1599. in Hakluyt, Voy., III. I. 81. They beat the sayd bulwarke and wall in such wise, that they made great bracks.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., Pref. 6. To repaire all the ruines and seuerall bracks of it.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 322. A Breck, or Brack, a gap in a Hedge.
† b. fig. A rupture, quarrel. Obs.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXV. xxix. 570. Hippocrates and Epicides … made the brack, & were the troublers and disturbers of this peace.
1608. Chapman, Byron’s Conspir., Plays, 1873, II. 236. That can mend The brack betwixt us.
3. A flaw in cloth. Also fig. (Now chiefly dial.)
[1530. Palsgr. 200/2. Brake in clothe, rentreture.]
1552. Act 6 Edw. VI., vi. § 1. Over-stretching them upon the Tenter, and then stopping with Flocks such Bracks as shall be made.
1597. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 33. The finest veluet [hath] his bracke.
1636. Featly, Clavis Myst., lxix. 888. The needle fils not up the bracke or rent.
1840. Browning, Sordello, V. 400. The knack Of keeping fresh-chalked gowns from speck and brack.
1873. Miss Braddon, Str. & Pilgr., I. vi. 62. ‘She sent me a gownd last week … a regular good one, not a brack in it.’
† 4. A broken piece, fragment, atom. Obs.
c. 1615. Chapman, Odyss., XVII. 249. A cord, that would not slip For knots and bracks about the mouth of it.
1644. Digby, Nat. Bodies, Ded. (1658), 14. Many bracks and short ends which cannot be spun into an even piece.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 79. The least brack of body cannot be broken a pieces, because ’tis already the least.
† 5. Breach, breaking, violation. Sc.
1658. Presbyt. Strathbogie Rec., in Hessey, Sunday (1880), 217. The said day A. C. … was delaitit for brak of Sabbath.
† 6. Break of continuity, ‘fault’ in mining. dial.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., S ii. After crossing of Pees, Tees, Braks, Jumbles, or what other disorder may happen that the vein cannot be easily made out.
† 7. ‘A stripe of uncultivated ground, between two shots or plots of land.’ (Jamieson.) Cf. BREAK sb. 12. Sc.
† 8. A sudden breaking out of water; a sudden heavy fall of rain; a flood when the ice breaks; a quantity of snow, earth, or debris shooting from a hill. Sc.
