Forms: 1–4 broþ, 4–6 brothe, 6–8 broath, 7 broathe, 3– broth. [Com. Teut.: OE. broþ = OHG. brod, prod, ON. broð:—OTeut. broþo(m), f. vb.-root brū- to prepare by boiling, make a decoction: see BREW. (Cf. F. bouillon broth, f. bouillir to boil.) The OHG. word was adopted in Romanic, giving med.L. brodum, brodium, It. brodo, Sp., Pg. brodio, Pr. bro, OF. bro, breu, whence broet, BROWET, BREWIS. Irish broth, Gael. brot, are from Eng.]
1. The liquid in which anything has been boiled, and which is impregnated with its juice; a decoction; esp. that in which meat is boiled or macerated; also a thin soup made from this with the addition of vegetables, pearl barley, rice, etc., as Scotch ‘broth.’
a. 1000. Colloq. Monast., xxix. 13 (Bosw.). Fætt broþ ʓe maʓon habban.
1297. R. Glouc., 528. On of is men … Caste broth vp a clerc.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R. (Tollemache MS.), XVII. lxx. Broþ of þe leues þerof [broom] abateþ swellynge of þe splene.
c. 1400. Maundev., xxiii. 250. Non other potages but the brothe of the flesche.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 53. Brothe, brodium, liquamen.
1530. Palsgr., 201/2. Brothe of fysshe or flesshe, brovet.
1535. Coverdale, Judg. vi. 20. Take the flesh … & set it vpon the stonye rocke … and poure the broth theron.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. xxxix. 57. The decoction or brothe of Agrimonie.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, III. 281. She herself had used to make the broaths.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 50. He … sawc’st our Brothes, as Juno had bin sicke, And he her Dieter.
1665. Gerbier, Princ., 24. Too many Cooks spoils the Broth.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, I. 7. Bad ’em serve in the broath [rhyme loath].
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 308, ¶ 3. I am sure … you love Broth better than Soup.
1804. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Gt. Cry & Litt. Wool, Wks. 1812, V. 165. The more cooks the worse broth.
1861. Ramsay, Remin. (ed. 18), 118. She … never did more than to sup a few family broth.
b. fig. and transf. (Cf. stew, browst, etc.).
c. 1526. Frith, Disput. Purgatory (1829), 141. If he had thought to have gone through purgatory … there should he have had an hot broth and an heartless.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, vi. 13. He sware he wolde purchace for the two sonnes … suche a broth [1601 traine] that they shulde bothe dye in doloure.
1878. Seeley, Stein, III. 390. They … want to … dissolve all civil society into a great fluid broth.
† 2. Loosely applied to various boiled, brewed, or decocted liquors; also to the brine of ocean, melted snow (SNOW-BROTH), etc. Cf. Sc. BREE, BROO.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 28. With brothe of venegur drawȝe hit withalle.
1558. Phaër, Æneid, VIII. Z iv. There went the salt sea broad with swellynge broth.
1593. Bacchus Bountie, in Harl. Misc. (1809), II. 264. Bickering with the broth of bountifull Bacchus.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Odour, ii. This broth of smells, that feeds & fats my minde.
1691. Ray, Making of Salt, 206. If you put in too much [ale] it will make the Broth [of brine] boil over the Pan.
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 361. A sop in the briny broth of Ocean.
3. Phrases. † To make white broth of, said of boiling to death (as a poisoner). A broth of a boy: the essence of what a boy should be, a downright good fellow (colloq. Irish).
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), I. 4. She was afraid that Cook the Lord Chief Justice would have made white broth of them, but the prerogative kept them from the pot.
1822. Byron, Juan, VIII. xxiv. Juan was quite ‘a broth of a boy.’
1843. Mrs. Tonna, Judah’s Lion, 132. Papa says you are the broth of a boy, for taking care of me.
