Sc. [In 15th c. brō. Of uncertain origin: perhaps a. OF. bro, breu, broth (whence dim. brouez, brouet). Often identified with BREE; but if this were correct, broo not bree would be the original, since do, boots, shoon, become in the north-east of Scotl. dee, beets, sheen, not the converse. It is hardly possible to connect the 15th c. broo with mod.G. brühe or Flem. brui, bruw.]
Broth; liquor; juice, water; = BREE sb.2 2, 3.
c. 1440. York Myst., xix. 135. I schall gar the leppe, And dere aby this bro.
a. 1711. Sir Gray Steel (1826), 2221. Good beef and mutton to be broo.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. Ae wean fa’s sick, and scads itself wi’ brue [v.r. broe, rhyme-wd. shoe].
1786. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 162. A’ ye douce folk I’ve borne aboon the broo.
a. 1800. in Leyden, Lord Soulis, Notes (Exclamation attrib. to Jas. I) ‘Sorrow gin the sheriff were sodden and supped in broo!’
