dial. [Of uncertain origin. (Sc. also brōg, brōg): the Gaelic brog ‘awl,’ must, according to Thurneysen, be an adopted word.]
1. A pricking or boring instrument: the common name in Scotland of a bradawl; also, an awl.
1808. in Jamieson.
1861. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. II. 59. But oh, please tak a brog, and prod him weel, and let the wind out o’ him.
2. A prick with a bradawl, etc.
1808. in Jamieson.
3. A short stick, esp. one to stick in the ground; e.g., those stuck in the ‘Sands’ of North Lancashire, to indicate the crossing.
1781. J. Hutton, Tour Caves (E. D. S.). Brogs, small sticks.
1870. Barber, Forness Folk, 35, in Lanc. Gloss. (E. D. S.). We’d gitten by t’ last brog an’ off t’ sand.
1875. Lanc. Gloss., Brog, a branch, a bough, a broken branch.
