Rare sing. brank; also as sing. a branks (cf. a bellows). [A Scotch word found in use since the 16th c.: etymology unknown. It has been compared with ME. bernak (BARNACLE) and BRAKE; also with Ger. pranger the pillory, pranger a barnacle for a horse; and with Du. prang a fetter.]
(Jamieson was prob. right in taking sense 2 ‘bridle’ as the earlier (cf. BRANK v.): but as the history is so uncertain, the senses are here placed simply in the chronological order of the available quotations.)
1. A scold’s bridle; an instrument of punishment used in the case of scolds, etc., consisting of a kind of iron framework to enclose the head, having a sharp metal gag or bit which entered the mouth and restrained the tongue.
1595. in Munic. Acc. Newcastle (1848), 41. Paide for caring a woman throughe the towne for skoulding, with branks, 4d.
1652. in E. Henderson, Kirk-Session Rec. Dumfermline, 18 Nov. She shall stand at the tron, with the branks on hir mouth.
1772. Pennant, Tours Scotl. (1774), 80. The Brank … is a sort of head piece, which opens and encloses the head of the impatient.
1858. T. N. Brushfield, Obsol. Punishmts., 6. It has been called … a Brank, the Branks, a pair of Branks, the Scold’s Bridle, Gossip’s Bridle, and … [in 1623] ‘a Brydle for a curste queane.’ Branks were in active use in Scotland many years before their introduction into England.
1869. Spurgeon, J. Ploughm. Talk, vi. 45. In Walton Church … there is a brank or scold’s bridle.
2. ‘A sort of bridle … Instead of leather, it has on each side a piece of wood joined to a halter, to which a bit is sometimes added; but more frequently a kind of wooden … muzzle.’ Jamieson.
1657. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 114. Some ask’d … Why sodds for saddle, and branks for bridle.
1787. Burns, Death of Dr. Hornb. Its shanks They were as thin, as sharp an sma’ As cheeks o’ branks.
1849. Tait’s Mag., XVI. 568. His cheeks clapped together like a pair of dismantled branks.
