BOWDLERIZE

as an

north its original form burn) means a stream, but is now applied as a current word only to the torrents of the chalk downs, full in winter & dry in summer; it serves in poetry ornamental synonym for brook. The second means properly a boundary (from French borne) as in The undiscovered country from whose borne No traveller returns, but is used almost solely, with a distorted memory of that passage, in the sense of destination or goal. The OED prefers bourn stream, & bourne goal, & the differentiation would be useful.

bowdlerize. Pronounce bow-. bowsprit. Pronounce bō-.

brace, n. ( two). See COLLECTIVES 3.

brachycephalic, -lous. See -CEPHA

LIC.

brachylogy. See TECHNICAL TERMS. braggadocio. Pl. -os; sce -O(E)S 4. brain(s), in the sense of wits, may often be either singular or plural, the latter being perhaps, as the OED suggests, the familiar, & the former the dignified use. In suck or pick a person's brain(s), the number is indifferent; Has no bb. is commoner than Has no b., but either is English. Some phrases, however, admit only one number or the other, e.g. cudgel one's bb., have a thing on the b., have one's b. turned.

brainy, meaning acute, ingenious, &c., is, & may as well remain, an Americanism.

brake, break, nn. The words meaning (1) bracken, (2) thicket, (3) lever, (4) crushing or kneading or peeling or harrowing instrument, (5) steadying-frame, though perhaps all of different origins, are spelt brake always. The word that means checking-appliance is usually brake, but break sometimes occurs owing to a probably false derivation from to break (the OED refers it to No 3 above, which it derives from OF brac = F bras arm). The word meaning horsebreaker's carriage-frame, & applied also to a large wagonette, is

usually, & probably should be, break; but brake is not uncommon. The word meaning fracture &c. is always break.

Bramah (B. lock &c.) is pronounced bră-, not brah-.

branch. For synonymy see FIELD. bran(d)-new. The spelling with -d is the right (fresh as from the furnace); but the d is seldom heard, & often not written.

bravado. Pl. -os; see -0(E)S 3.

brave in the sense of fine or showy is an ARCHAISM, & in the sense of worthy a GALLICISM; make a b. show, however, is fully current.

bravo, brava, bravi. In applauding operatic performers &c., the first form is used to a man, the second to a woman, & the third to the company.

bravo. Pl. -ocs in sense bullies, -os in sense cries of applause ; see -O(E)S 1, 3.

brazen. See -EN ADJECTIVES, & -ER & -EST 2. breadthways, -wise.

-WISE.

See -WAYS,

break. 1. For p.p. see BROKE(N). 2. For spelling of nouns see BRAKE,

BREAK.

breakfast, break one's fast. The divided form is now a mere ARCHAISM. Pronounce bre'kfast.

breeches &c. The singular noun & its derivatives (breechloader, breeching, &c.) have usually -ech- in pronunciation; breeches the garment has always -ich-, & the verb breech (put child into bb.) usually follows this.

breese, breeze, brize, are all existent spellings of the word meaning gadfly. A difference from the other breeze being useful, the first is recommended.

brevet, n. & v. Pronounce brè'vit, not brĭvě't; the past & p.p. are accordingly breveted, see -T-, -TT-. breviary. Pronounce brē-; FALSE QUANTITY.

see

bricken. See -EN ADJECTIVES. brier, briar. 1. For the word mean

BRILLIANCE

ing thorny bush, the spelling brier, & the monosyllabic pronunciation brir, are nearer the original & preferable; brere is still nearer, but now a poetic archaism only. 2. The name of the pipe-wood is an entirely different word, but also best spelt brier.

brilliance, -cy. See -CE, -CY.

brindle(d), brinded. The original form brinded is archaic, & should be used only in poetry. Brindled, a variant of it, is now the ordinary adjective, & brindle, a BACK-FORMATION from this, & convenient as a name for the colour, should be used only as a noun.

For the

brisken. See -EN VERBS. Britain, British, Briton. relation of these to England, English(man), sec ENGLAND.

Briticism, the name for an idiom used in Great Britain & not in America, is a BARBARISM, & should be either Britannicism or Britishism, just as libernicism or Irishism will do, but not Iricism. Gallicism & Scot(t)icism cannot be pleaded, since Gaulish & Scotch are in Latin Gallicus & Scot(t)icus, but British is Britannicus. The verbal critic, who alone uses such words, should at least see to it that they are above criticism.

Britisher is a word made in America, but now discountenanced in American dictionaries as in jocose use only or as almost disused'; if these phrases give the actual & not merely the desirable American usage, on which point there are doubts, it is time that British writers reconciled themselves to relinquishing the word in its convenient function of announcing that the user of it is American. If, on the other hand, the word is still current in America, Englishmen have both as little right to object to outsiders' applying it to them & as little occasion to use it themselves, as the Germans have to quarrel with us for calling them Germans & not Dutch or to change their name to please us.

broad, wide. Both words have general currency; their existence side by side is not accounted for by one's being more appropriate to any special style; what difference there is must be in meaning; yet how close they are in this respect is shown by their both having narrow as their usual opposite, & both standing in the same relation, if in any at all, to long. Nevertheless, though they may often be used indifferently (a b. or a w. road; three feet w. or b.), there are (1) many words with which one may be used & not the other, (2) many with which one is more idiomatic than the other though the sense is the same, (3) many with which either can be used, but not with precisely the same sense as the other; these numbered points are illustrated below.

The explanation seems to be that wide refers to the distance that separates the limits, & broad to the amplitude of what connects them. When it does not matter which of these is in our minds, either word does equally well; if the hedges are far apart, we have a w. road; if there is an ample surface, we have a b. road; it is all one. But (1) backs, shoulders, chests, bosoms, are b., not w., whereas eyes & mouths are w., not b.; at w. intervals, give a w. berth, a w. ball, w. open, in all of which b. is impossible, have the idea of separation strongly ; & w. trousers, w. sleeves, w. range, w. influence, w. favour, w. distribution, the w. world, where b. is again impossible, suggest the remoteness of the limit. Of the words that admit b. but refuse w. some are of the simple kind (b. blades, spearheads, leaves; the b. arrow), but with many some secondary notion such generosity or downrightness neglect of the petty is the representative of the simple idea of amplitude (b. daylight, B. Church, b. jests, b. farce, b. hint, b. Scotch, b. facts, b. outline).

as

or

(2) Some words with which one of the two is idiomatic, but the other

BROADNESS

not impossible, are:-(preferring broad) expanse, brow, forehead, lands, estates, acres, brim, mind, gauge; (preferring wide) opening, gap, gulf, culture.

(3) Some illustrations of the difference in meaning between broad & wide with the same word; the first two may be thought fanciful, but hardly the others: A w. door is

one that gives entrance to several abreast, a b. door one of imposing dimensions; a w. river takes long to cross, a b. river shows a fine expanse of water; a w. generalization covers many particulars, a b. generalization disregards unimportant exceptions; a page has a b. margin, i.e. a fine expanse of white, but we allow a w. margin for extras, i.e. a great interval between the certain & the possible costs; a w. distinction or difference implies that the things are very far from identical, but a b. distinction or difference is merely one that requires no subtlety for its appreciation.

broadness is now used instead of the usual breadth only when the meaning is coarseness or indelicacy of expression.

Brobdingnag (not -ignag) is the spelling.

broccoli (not -oco-, nor -lo) is the best spelling. The word is an Italian plural, & is generally used collectively like spinach &c. ; but if a or the plural is wanted, a broccoli, two broccolis, are the forms.

In

brochure, pamphlet. See FRENCH WORDS. B. has no right to exist in English, since it is not needed by the side of p. Its introduction in the 19th c. was probably due to misconception of the French uses. French b. is used where the French p. (chiefly applied to scurrilous or libellous or violently controversial pamphlets) is inappropriate. The sense a few leaves of printed matter stitched together' has always belonged in English to p., though it has by the side of this general sense the special one (different from the French) p. bearing on some question

bronco. Pl. -os; see -o(E)S 6. brow. In the sweat of thy brow is a MISQUOTATION.

Bruin. See SOBRIQUETS.

brusque, though formerly so far naturalized as to be spelt brusk & pronounced brusk, is now usually pronounced broosk.

brutal, brute, brutish. Brutal differs from brute in its adjectival or attributive use, & from brutish, in having lost its simplest sense of the brutes as opposed to man & being never used without implying moral condemnation. Thus, while brute force is contrasted with skill, brutal force is contrasted with humanity. In torturing a a mouse, cat is brutish, & a person brutal. For comparison of brutal, see -ER & -EST, 4.

Brythonic. See GAELIC.

bubo, buffalo. Pl. -oes; see -0(E)s 1. buck. See HART.

buffet. The OED pronounces this bu'fit in the sense sideboard or cupboard, & as French in the sense refreshment bar. See also FRENCH

BUMMALO

NEEDLESS VARIANTS. Neither form, however, though there is no difference of meaning, is a mere variant of the other; they are independent formations, one allied with boom, & the other with hum. The first form is preferable, because its imitative origin is more apparent.

bummalo. Pl. -os; see -o(E)S 6. bunkum, buncombe. The first spelling is recommended, as decidedly the prevalent one. The

second, from an American placename, is the original; but the word is equally significant with either spelling, & no purpose is served by trying to re-establish the less usual.

buoy is now pronounced boi, & attempts to restore bwoi, the pronunciation recognized by all orthoepists British & American ', doomed to fail; the OED, in spite of the statement quoted, puts boi first.

are

burlesque, caricature, parody, travesty. In wider applications the words are often interchangeable; a badly conducted trial, for instance, may be called a b., a c., a p., or a t., of justice; a perverted institution may be said, without change of sense, to b., c., p., or t., its founder's intentions; &, the others having no adjectives of their own, the adjective burlesque can serve them, as well as its own noun, in that capacity (a b. portrait, poem, &c.). Two distinctions, however, are worth notice :(1) b., c., & p., have, besides their wider uses, each a special province ; action or acting is burlesqued, form & features are caricatured, & verbal expression is parodied, (2) travesty differs from the others both in having no special province, & in being more used than they (though all four may be used either way) when the imitation is intended to be or pass for an exact one but fails, & not to amuse by its mixture of likeness & unlikeness to the original.

burnt, burned. Burnt is the usual form, esp. in the p.p.; burned tends to disappear, & is chiefly used with a view to securing whatever impressiveness or beauty attaches to the unusual; see -T & -ED.

burr. See BUR.

burst, bust. In the slang expressions b. up, b.-up, go a b., on the b., &c., the spelling bust is established,

BURY

& should be used by those who use the phrases.

bury. For inflexions see VERBS IN -IE &c., 6.

bus is sufficiently established to require no apostrophe; for the plural, see -s-, -ss-.

business, busyness. The second form, pronounced bi'zinis, is used as the simple abstract noun of busy (the state &c. of being busy) for distinction from the regular business with its special developments of meaning. buskin. For the b. meaning the tragic stage &c. see BATTERED

ORNAMENTS.

bustle. See PRONUNCIATION, Silent t. busy, vb. For inflexions see VERBS IN IE &c., 6.

=

but. 1. Case after b. except. 2. Redundant negative after b. 3. Illogical b. 4. Wheels within wheels. 5. B.... however. 6. But which.

1. Case after but except. The question is whether b. in this sense is a preposition, & should therefore always take an objective case (Noone saw him but me, as well as I saw no-one but him), or whether it is a conjunction, & the case after it is therefore variable (I saw no-one but him, i. e. but I did see him; No-one saw him but I, i.e. but I did see him). The answer is that but was originally a preposition meaning outside, but is now usually made a conjunction, the subjective case being preferred after it when admissible. A correspondent who has collected a large number of examples in which an inflected pronoun follows but informs me that 95% of them show the conjunctional use; Whence all b. he (not him) had fled exemplifics, in fact, the normal modern literary use. All but him is used (a) by those who either do not know or do not care whether it is right or not-& accordingly it is still good colloquial—, & (b) by the few who, being aware that b. is originally prepositional, are also proud of the knowledge & willing to air it & accordingly it is still

the conjunctional use has prevailed owing partly to the mistaken notion that No-one knows it b. me is the same sort of blunder as It is me; but it has prevailed, in literary use, & it is in itself legitimate; it would therefore be well for it to be universally accepted.

2. Redundant negative after but. But (now rare), but that (literary), & but what (colloq.), have often in negative & interrogative sentences the meaning that... not. But just as I shouldn't wonder if he didn't fall in is often heard in vulgar speech where didn't fall should be fell, so careless writers insert after but the negative already implied in it. Examples (all wrong) :-Who knows b. that the whole history of the Conference might not have been changed?/ Who knows but what agreeing to differ may not be a form of agreement rather than a form of difference?/How can Mr. Balfour tell b. that two years hence he may not be tired of official life?

For similar mistakes, see HAZINESS. 3. Illogical but. A very common & exasperating use of but as the ordinary adversative conjunction is that illustrated below. A writer having in his mind two facts of opposite tendency, & deciding to give them in two separate & complete sentences connected by but, forgets that the mere presence of the opposed facts is not enough to justify but; the sentences must be so expressed that the total effect of one is opposed to that of the other; he must not be seduced into throwing in an additional circumstance in one (usually the second) of his sentences that will have the unintended effect of neutralizing the contrast:-In vain the horse kicked & reared, b. he could not unseat his rider (if the kicking was in vain, the failure to unseat involves no contrast; either in vain or but must be dropped)./Pole was averse to burning Cranmer, b. it was Mary who decided that his recantation was not genuine & that he must die (The fact in