brank

B3R1A1N1K5
/ˈbɹæŋk/[ˈbɹʷæŋk]Canada, US/ˈbɹeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈbɹʷeɪ̯ŋk]

noun

A metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue.

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Meanings

brank1

nounbrank (plural branks)

plural branks

  1. plural normallyA metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue.
  2. ScotlandUKdialectalobsoleteplural normallyA sort of bridle with wooden side pieces.

    Your armour gude ye mauna shaw, / Nor yet appear like men o' weir; / As country lads be a' array'd, / Wi' branks and brecham on each mare.

    1802, “Jock o’ the Side”, in Walter Scott, editor, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: […], volume I, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] James Ballantyne, for T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and sold by Manners and Miller, and A[rchibald] Constable, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Historical Ballads), page 158
verbbrank (third-person singular simple present branks, present participle branking, simple past and past participle branked)

present singular third person branks · participle present branking · participle past branked · past branked

  1. To put someone in the branks.
  2. ScotlandUKdialectalTo hold up and toss the head; applied to horses as spurning the bit.
  3. ScotlandTo prance; to caper.

    Donald came branking down the brae Wi' twenty thousand men.

    1811, Anne MacVicar Grant, Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland

brank2

nounbrank (uncountable)
  1. UKdialectaluncountableBuckwheat.

    One - third of brank-ground , or mixed with any other kind of grain or roots, is as large a proportion as can be given with safety

    1842, William Blackwood, The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture

Origin

brank · noun, verb

Compare Scottish Gaelic brangus, brangas (“a sort of pillory”), Irish brancas (“halter”), or Dutch pranger (“fetter”).

Full word history & related roots →

brank · noun

Probably of Celtic origin; compare Latin brance, brace, the Gallic name of a particularly white kind of corn.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with brank

bankthankranktankblankspankfranchankcrankdrankPlanckshankplankflankprankswankbancankhdankcinqueshranklankManctreebank
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

brink (thank-think merger)brink (thank-think merger)brink (thank-think merger)
Cite this entry
APA

brank. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brank

MLA

“brank.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brank. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brank,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brank.

Source: brank on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.