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bracket

/ˈbɹækɪt/ noun

In Latin: uncus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about bracket at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf.
  2. Any intermediate object that connects a smaller part to a larger part, the smaller part typically projecting sideways from the larger part.
  3. A short crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as a support.

verb

  1. To support by means of mechanical brackets.
  2. To enclose in typographical brackets.
  3. To bound on both sides, to surround, as enclosing with brackets.

noun

  1. Alternative form of bragget (“drink made with ale and honey”).

Origin

From earlier bragget, *bracket, from Middle English *braget, *braket (attested in braket nail), from Old French braguette (“the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches, one's fly”), a diminutive of Old French brague (“knickers, britches”), from Old Occitan braga, from Latin brāca (“pants”), from Transalpine Gaulish *brāca, from Proto-Germanic *brāks, an early form of Proto-Germanic *brōks (“leggings, breeches, trousers”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)