brawl
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɹɔːl/
ipa: /bɹɔl/
ipa: /bɹɑl/
rhymes: -ɔːl
Forms: form: brawls
form: brawling
form: brawled
form: brawled
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”); further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative. It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)).
The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.
Senses: examples: text: I doe the wrong, and firſt began to braule / The ſecret miſchiefes that I ſet abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: [...]
ref: c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
english: I do the wrong, and am the first to begin to quarrel. / The secret mischiefs that I set afoot, / I blame on others: …
translation: I do the wrong, and am the first to begin to quarrel. / The secret mischiefs that I set afoot, / I blame on others: …
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text: Theſe are the deep and profound Myſteries of Artificial Logick, invented with ſo much care by theſe fallacious Doctors, [...] Theſe are the Nets, and theſe are the Hounds with which they hunt the Truth of all things, whether natural, as in Phyſicks; or ſupernatural, as in Metaphyſicks: but according to the Proverb of Clodius and Varro, can never overtake, by reaſon of their bawling and brawling one with another.
ref: 1676, Henry Cornelius Agrippa [i.e., Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim], “Of Logick”, in The Vanity of Arts and Sciences, London: Printed by J. C. for Samuel Speed, […], →OCLC, page 43:
text: As long as they [Xanthippe and Myrto, Socrates' wives] diſagreed, they were continually ſcolding, brawling, or fighting, with each other; and whenever they agreed, they both joined in brawling [verb sense 2] at him, and often fell on him with their fiſts as well as with their tongues, and beat him ſoundly.
ref: 1716, Humphrey Prideaux, “Book VI”, in The Old and New Testament Connected, in the History of the Jews and Neighbouring Nations, from the Declension of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, to the Time of Christ, part I, volume II, Edinburgh: Printed by D. Schaw & Co., […], published 1799, →OCLC, page 417:
text: [U]pon every trifle, the vitiated faculties of thy ſoul are inflamed with immoderate and moſt irregular paſſion, ſo that thou often brawleſt, and art made thereby to roar like a wild bull caught in a thicket: [...]
ref: 1763, John Henderson, “Sect. XVI. Soliloquy on the Unerring Motions of the Spirit.”, in James Thomson, editor, Divine Meditations and Contemplations, in Prose and Verse, on Some of the Most Important and Interesting Doctrines of Christianity. […], Glasgow: Printed for James Thomson, […], and sold by him […], and by J. Trail, W. Gray, and J. Wood, […]; and by R. Smith, jun. […], →OCLC, page 305:
text: One who rides at all hazards of limb and life in the chase of a fox, will prefer to ride recklessly at most times. So it was with these gentlemen. He was the greatest patriot, in their eyes, who brawled the loudest, and who cared the least for decency.
ref: 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter XVI, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 207:
text: Brilly and Flintlock brawled in potions class, then they brawled on the soccer field, and finally they brawled sitting in the principal's office.
ref: 1998 July 2, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter; 2), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 63:
synonyms: squabble
wrangle
glosses: To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel.
examples: text: Say beggar, why brawlest þou? go boune þe to þe barre.
ref: [1430–1440, “XXX. The Tapiteres and Couchers. The Dream of Pilate’s Wife: Jesus before Pilate.”, in Lucy Toulmin Smith, editor, York Plays: The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on the Day of Corpus Christi in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries: […] (overall work in Middle English), Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, published 1885, →OCLC, [scene iv], page 286, line 380:
text: She [the son's wife] is one that is euermore full of ſtryfe / And of all Scolders beareth the Bell. / When ſhe ſpeaketh beſt, ſhe brawleth her tonge / When ſhe is ſtyll ſhe fyghteth apace: / She is an olde Witch thoughe ſhe be yonge, / No mirth with her, no ioye or ſolace.
ref: c. 1560, Thomas Ingelend, A Pretie and Mery New Enterlude, Called The Disobedient Child, imprinted at London: […] [B]y Thomas Colwell, →OCLC; republished as John S. Farmer, editor, The Disobedient Child (The Tudor Facsimile Texts; 42), London; Edinburgh: Issued for subscribers by T. C. & E. C. Jack, […], 1908, →OCLC:
text: How now ſir Iohn, what are you brawling here? / Doth this become your place, your time, and buſineſſe?
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
english: Hello, what's this, Sir John [Falstaff], what, are you creating a disturbance here? / Is this becoming of a person of your position, your age, and duties?
translation: Hello, what's this, Sir John [Falstaff], what, are you creating a disturbance here? / Is this becoming of a person of your position, your age, and duties?
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text: [I]f a king will not remain at home and slay his own game, methinks he should not brawl too loud if he finds it killed to his hand.
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XI, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 274:
text: He [one Samuel Tuke] blasphemeth God's Holy Word, preacheth sedition and rebellion, telleth in the pulpit many foolish lies and ridiculous tales, brawleth against the reverend and learned ministers of the country, and raileth upon the worshipful gentry; [...]
ref: 1862 April, “The Bicentenary Commemoration of 1662”, in The Ecclesiastic and Theologian, volume XXIV, London: Joseph Masters, […]; Oxford, Oxfordshire: J. H. and James Parker; A. R. Mowbray; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Hall and Son; Derby, Derbyshire: J. and C. Mozley, →OCLC, page 239:
glosses: To create a disturbance; to complain loudly.
examples: text: To day my Lord of Amiens, and my ſelfe, / Did ſteale behinde him as he lay along / Vnder an oake, whoſe anticke roote peepes out / Vpon the brooke that brawles along this wood, [...]
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 190, column 1:
text: ―When low-hung clouds each ſtar of ſummer hide, / And fireleſs are the valleys far and wide, / Where the brook brawls along the painful road, / Dark with bat haunted aſhes ſtretching broad, [...]
ref: 1793, W[illiam] Wordsworth, An Evening Walk. An Epistle; in Verse. […], London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC; republished as “The Female Beggar. From Wordsworth’s Evening Walk.”, in The Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany, volume III (New Series), Edinburgh: Printed for James Symington […] and sold in London by H. Murray […], and W. Boag […], May 1794, →OCLC, page 387, column 1:
text: What seek we here / Amid this waste where desolation scowls, / And the red torrent, brawling down the linn, / Sings everlasting discord?
ref: 1814, J. H. Craig [pseudonym; James Hogg], The Hunting of Badlewe: A Dramatic Tale, London: H[enry] Colburn; Edinburgh: G. Goldie, →OCLC, page 1; quoted in “The Hunting of Badlewe, a Dramatic Tale. 8vo. Edin. 1814. [From the Scottish Review.]”, in The Analectic Magazine, Containing Selections from Foreign Reviews and Magazines, together with Original Miscellaneous Compositions, volume V (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Published and sold by Moses Thomas, […], May 1815, →OCLC, pages 353–354:
glosses: Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise.
glosses: To pour abuse on; to scold.
Derived terms: word: brawler
word: brawling
word: outbrawl