An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language / in which the words are explained in their different senses, authorized by the names of the writers by whom they are used, or the titles of the works in which they occur, and deduced from their originals

by John Jamieson

Evidently from brigand.

Journ. Lond.

BRIL, s. The merry thought of a fowl.
V. [Breels].
Sibbald.

Teut. bril, ossiculum circa pectus a specilli similitudine dictum.

BRYLIES, s. pl. Bearberries.
V. [Brawlins].

BRIM, BRYM, BREME, adj.
1. Raging, swelling; applied to the sea.
Bellenden.

Isl. brim, the raging of the sea. The word is thus defined; Aestus maris, vehementibus procellis littus verberans; Olai Lex. Run. A. S. brim, brym, salum, aequor, mare, the sea.

2. Fierce, violent.
Bellenden.
3. Stern, rugged, applied to the countenance.
Douglas.
4. Denoting a great degree either of heat or of cold.
Douglas.
Thus, "a brim frost," is still a common phrase for a severe frost, S. B.

Brymly, adv. Fiercely, keenly. Wall. vii. 995.
V. [Artailye].

BRIM, s. A cant term for a trull, Loth.