bric-a-brac
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɹɪkəbɹæk/
ipa: /ˈbɹɪkəˌbɹæk/
Forms: form: bric-a-bracs
form: bricabrac
form: bric-à-brac
form: brick-a-brack
Etymology: Borrowed from French bric-à-brac (“miscellaneous items of little value”), apparently from à bricq et à bracq (“at random; haphazardly”); bricq and bracq are expressive onomatopoeias of obscure origin.
Senses: examples: text: The palace of Versailles has been turned into a bricabrac shop, of late years; and its time-honoured walls have been covered with many thousand yards of the worst pictures that eye ever looked on.
ref: 1840, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Meditations at Versailles”, in The Paris Sketch Book, volume II, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 267:
text: No doubt her pleasure would have been at that moment to give him not only that gold which she had been saving up against rent-day, but the spoons, the furniture, and all the valuables of the house, including, perhaps, J. J.'s bricabrac, cabinets, china, and so forth.
ref: 1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In which Philip Shows His Mettle”, in The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 299:
text: Haven't an affair in the world, […] except a quarrel with a bric-à-brac man.
ref: 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXVII, in Daniel Deronda, volume IV, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VIII (Fruit and Seed), page 314:
text: Indeed, who wants the real animal or hunter? What would that do amid astral and bric-a-brac and tapestry, and ladies and gentlemen talking in subdued tones of [Robert] Browning and [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow and art?
ref: 1882–1883, Walt Whitman, “[Collect. Notes Left Over.] Emerson’s Books, (the Shadows of Them).”, in Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rees Welsh & Co., […], →OCLC, page 320:
text: "Well, mi casa su casa," said Corbin as they rounded the final bend. They were standing in a cozy maintenance alcove with a sleeping roll on a memory foam mattress on the floor, a series of labelled duffel bags, a space heater and dehumidifier locked in eternal stalemate, a card table and two chairs, and a wide variety of bric-a-brac. There were safety and information posters on the walls, rips and creases showing that they'd been liberated from their original points of fixture. There were photographs mac-tac'd to conduits and concrete. There was even a sad little pot plant beneath a slowly leaking pipe — pot pot, Udo realized, and she almost smiled.
ref: 2023 September 22, HarryBlank, “Off Track”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 25 May 2024:
synonyms: word: brickety-brack
word: knick-knacks
word: bauble
word: bric-a-brac
word: fandangle
word: fangle
word: fizgig
word: folderol
word: gewgaw
word: kickshaw
word: knick-knack
word: mathom
word: tat
word: tchotchke
word: trangam
word: trinket
word: whim-wham
glosses: Small ornaments and other miscellaneous display items of little value.
examples: text: Yes: I think he is a good fellow: rather miscellaneous and bric-à-brac, but likable.
ref: 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XLIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V, page 13:
synonyms: word: mishmash
word: oddments
word: bouillabaisse
word: bric-a-brac
word: catch-all
word: clamjamfrey
word: cocktail
word: gallery
word: congeries
word: crazyquilt
word: disjecta membra
word: farrago
word: galimatias
word: gallimaufry
word: grab bag
word: hodgepodge
word: horse and rabbit stew
word: hotchpotch
word: hotchpot
word: job lot
word: jumble
word: macedoine
word: medley
word: melange
word: mingle-mangle
word: miscellanea
word: miscellany
word: mishmash
word: mixed bag
word: mixture
word: motley
word: odds and ends
word: oddments
word: olio
word: olla podrida
word: omnium-gatherum
word: pastiche
word: patchwork quilt
word: potpourri
word: ragbag
word: salmagundi
word: slurry
word: smorgasbord
word: welter
word: Whitman's sampler
glosses: Any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items; a hodgepodge, an olio.
Derived terms: word: bric-a-bracker
word: bric-a-brackery
word: bric-a-bracquerie
word: brickety-brack