Etymologically
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brace

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Pronunciation

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English brace,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman brace and Old French brace (“the two arms; the length of the extended arms”),[5][2][6][7] partly also from the singular bras (“arm”).[5][8] The French noun comes from Latin bracchia (“arms”), the plural of bracchium (“arm”), which was taken for a feminine singular.[9][10] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “arm, upper arm”),[9][3][7] which Klein and Barnhart derive from βραχύς (brakhús, “short”), since the upper arm is shorter than the forearm;[9][7][6] the Greek adjective is related to brief and to Latin brevis.[6][7] The verb is bracen,[4][10] partly from bracier (“to embrace”), a derivative of the noun,[2][4][11][9] and probably partly a shortened form of embrace,[5] and its later senses come straight from the noun.[5][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A strap or belt for fastening: 1313–14, in the account rolls of Durham Abbey.[5][7] A piece of armour for the arm is recorded from 1333.[5][7] The OED's first quotations for the verb, meaning to wrap or surround and to fetter, are from about 1390;[5] Etymonline dates it to the mid-14th century, and Barnhart to about 1350.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Anglo-Norman the noun already meant a pair of arms, the length of the extended arms, a piece of armour for the arm, a pair of hounds, a leather strap and an arched beam.[13][5] The meaning "a support" is recorded from 1348,[7] and, according to Etymonline, "something that holds things together" from the mid-15th century, from the idea of clasping arms; it was then applied to many fastening and tightening devices.[2] Ayto traces the sense "pair" to the original idea of twoness, and the idea of strengthening and supporting mostly to the verb, which first meant to clasp; the verb now means to support or strengthen, while embrace keeps the sense of holding in the arms.[6] Of dogs, game birds or pistols, a brace has been a couple since about 1400.[2][14] The carpenter's tool for holding a bit dates from the 16th century, and the printer's bracket from the 17th.[14] From 1798, in a letter of Jane Austen, braces were straps over the shoulders that hold up trousers,[5][2] and by 1945 they were also wires for straightening the teeth.[2] The verb meant to tighten or strengthen from the 15th century,[2][5] and to steady oneself against an impact from 1805, perhaps from about 1500.[2] In Scotland and Ireland a brace was a mantelpiece or chimney-piece.[15] In 19th-century American gamblers' slang brace meant to cheat.[16]

Timeline

  • 1313–14 – a strap or belt for fastening.[5][7]
  • 1333 – armour for the arm (obsolete by 1611).[5][7]
  • 1348 – a support.[7]
  • 1353–54 – a rope for swinging the yard of a ship.[5]
  • c. 1390 – verb, to wrap or surround; to fetter.[5]
  • c. 1400 – a pair, of dogs, birds and the like.[2]
  • 1440 – verb, to tighten, as the skin of a drum.[5]
  • before 1647 – verb, to strengthen with a brace.[5]
  • 1692 – verb, to give tone to the body or nerves.[5]
  • 1798 – braces, straps holding up trousers.[5][2]
  • 1805 – brace oneself, for a shock or impact.[2]
  • 1945 – braces, wires that straighten the teeth.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A device that fastens or holds parts together, or a beam or rod that supports or stiffens a structure.
  2. A device fitted to a weak or injured part of the body to support it: a neck brace.
  3. (often in plural) A wire device fitted to the teeth to straighten them.
  4. (in plural, chiefly British) Straps over the shoulders that hold up trousers; suspenders.
  5. (plural brace) A pair, especially of game birds: a brace of pheasants.
  6. A hand tool with a crank handle for turning a drilling bit.
  7. (nautical) A rope attached to a yard of a ship, for turning the sail.
  8. (printing) A curly bracket, used to group lines or items.

Verb

  1. To support or strengthen something with a brace.
  2. To prepare oneself for something difficult or unpleasant: The town braced itself for the storm.
  3. To steady oneself or one's body against something, as for an impact.
  4. To invigorate: a bracing walk along the cliffs.
  5. (nautical) To turn a yard by its braces.

Word family

  • overbrace
  • thoroughbrace
  • underbrace
  • bitbrace
  • counterbrace
  • rebrace
  • unbrace

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  14. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com