Etymology: Partly < Old English brægd- = Old Norse bragð neuter < Old Germanic bragdo-m , < strong verb *bregdan , bragd (see braid v.¹), and partly aphetic form of Old English gebregd , < bregdan to braid v.¹ All the senses are closely paralleled by those of Old Norse bragð , which may possibly to some extent have influenced the English word. The archaic brede n.³ used in modern poetry (in sense 4) began as a mere orthographical variant of braid (breade).

Etymology: Of doubtful meaning and origin; perhaps short for braided in some sense; compare Old English bregden , deceitful, also braidie adj.

Etymology: Common Germanic: Old English bregdan (past tense brægd , brugdon , participle brogden ) = Old Saxon bregdan (Middle Dutch breiden , Dutch breien ), Old High German brettan (Middle High German bretten ), Old Norse bregða < Germanic *bregd-an (extended < *breg- ), with root-meaning ‘to pull quickly hither and thither, to move suddenly to and fro’. In Old English the g of the root was often omitted, with lengthening of the vowel (brédan , brǽd , brúdon , bróden ), but the diphthongal form (breyde , etc.) prevailed in Middle English The past participle had in 13–15th cent. the form broyden , in 14–16th browden , sometimes in 14–15th cent. brawden ; the phonetic history of which presents some difficulties. By 1400 the original strong past tense was displaced by the weak brayded , which in the 15th cent. had also extended to the past participle, though browden continued in Scots at least till 1600. From the strong forms of the past participle appear to have arisen the newer synonymous weak verbs broid v., browd v., brawde v.; see also broider v., browder, brawder.

Etymology: Probably aphetic < abraid v.², upbraid v.; but as Old Norse bregða was used in this meaning, it may perhaps be a sense of braid v.¹ Compare broide v.

Etymology: Apparently a dialect corruption of bray v.², by confusing brayed, braid, braided. Given by Forby and Halliwell as East Anglian. Not in Bailey, nor Johnson; taken apparently from Halliwell into Webster and other recent dictionaries.