brenne, to burn. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 45; pt. t. brent, id. i. 9. 10; pp. brent, id. ii. 6. 49. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. brennen (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2331). Icel. brenna.
brere, a briar. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 2; Sackville, Induction, st. 39. A very common prov. pronunc. (EDD.). OE. (Mercian) brēr, WS. brǣr.
bret, the name of a fish like the turbot; ‘The bret, of all [fishes] the slowest’, Lyly, Alexander, ii. 2 (Hephestion). Also called a birt or burt. See EDD.
bretch, a breach; ‘With careless bretch’, Phaer. and Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, x. 467. F. brèche.
brevit, to hunt about, search, pry, beat about, forage; ‘Breviting by night’, Drayton, The Owl, 179. Prob. from brevet, in the sense of taking by ‘brevet’ or written warrant (NED.). In gen. use in the midland counties (EDD.).
briars: phr. in the briars, in troubles, among thorns; ‘I ought not so to leave Eccho in the bryers’, Gascoigne, Glasse of Governement, v. 1.
bribe, a thing stolen, Barclay, Shyp of Folys, ii. 85. OF. bribe, a piece of bread, F. ‘bribe, a peece of bread given unto a beggar’ (Cotgr.).
bribe, to take dishonestly, to purloin, to steal or rob; ‘They do deceive the needy, bribe and pill from them’, Cranmer, Instr. of Prayer; ‘I bribe, I pyll’, Palsgrave. ME. brybyn (briben) ‘latrocinor’ (Prompt.).
bribery, robbery with violence, extortion, Geneva Bible (Matt. xxiii. 25).
bribour, a thief or robber, Berners, tr. of Froissart, ii. 10. 21. ME. brybowre (Prompt.).