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brank.

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

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbɹæŋk/[ˈbɹʷæŋk]/ˈbɹeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈbɹʷeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. A metal bridle formerly used as a torture device to hold the head of a scold and restrain the tongue.

    plural-normally
  2. A sort of bridle with wooden side pieces.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal · obsolete · plural-normally
Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˈbɹæŋk/[ˈbɹʷæŋk]/ˈbɹeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈbɹʷeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. To put someone in the branks.

  2. To hold up and toss the head; applied to horses as spurning the bit.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal
  3. To prance; to caper.

    Scotland
Where this word comes from

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

noun/ˈbɹæŋk/[ˈbɹʷæŋk]/ˈbɹeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈbɹʷeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. Buckwheat.

    UK · dialectal · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.