Also 5 branderith, brandryt(h(e, 5–6 -rethe, 6 brandrate, -ereth, brendreth, 6–8 brandrith; also with substitution of l for r 5 brandelede, branlet, 5–6 brenlede (Wr.-Wülcker, 769), -delette. [a. ON. brand-reið a grate, f. brand-r brand, burning + reið carriage, vehicle: cf. OE. brandrod for brandrád, (Corpus Gl., Wr.-Wülcker 5, 38), and brandred, -rida (‘andena,’ ibid., 349, 266); OHG. brantreita.]
† 1. A gridiron; a tripod or trivet of iron. (Originally a grate supported on three legs on the hearth: hence the apparent variety of definitions.) Obs. exc. dial.
1400. Test. Ebor. (1836), I. 268. Unum par tongis, unum flechok, unum branderith.
a. 1450. MS. Lincoln. Med., f. 283 (Halliw.). Take grene ȝerdis of esche, and laye thame over a brandrethe.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, I. (1822), 90. Thay band ane brandreth of irne, with mony grete stanis, to his crag.
1590. Inv., in Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 248. Item ij brandrethes and an apple iron.
1663. Inv. Ld. J. Gordon’s Furniture. A droping pan; a brandereth of iorn; ane ladle and fork.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., Brandrith, a Trevet or other Iron Utensil to set a Vessel on over the Fire.
1875. Lanc. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Brandreth, a gridiron.
2. A framework of wood for various purposes, as a stand for a cask, or for a hay-rick; a substructure of piles to support a house; also a fence or rail round the opening of a well.
1483. Cath. Angl., 40. A Brandryth to set begynnyge [v.r. byggyng] on, loramentum.
1573. Lanc. Wills (1857), III. 62. A brandereth where upon the barrell laye.
1659. Hoole, Comenius’ Vis. World (ed. 12), 93. Wells … are compassed about with a brandrith, lest any should fall in.
1837. Howitt, Rur. Life, III. vi. (1862), 279. There was … the brandreth, or frame on which a rick once stood.
† 3. (See quotation.) Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. viii. 53. The Brandret or Millrinde, a cross like Iron laid in the Upper Stone to turn it.
