bracket

[ brak-it ]

/ ˈbræk ɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bracket ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a support, as of metal or wood, projecting from a wall or the like to hold or bear the weight of a shelf, part of a cornice, etc.

a shelf or shelves so supported.

Also called square bracket. one of two marks [ or ] used in writing or printing to enclose parenthetical matter, interpolations, etc.

Mathematics.

brackets, parentheses of various forms indicating that the enclosed quantity is to be treated as a unit.
(loosely) vinculum(def 2).
Informal. an expression or formula between a pair of brackets.

a grouping of people based on the amount of their income: the low-income bracket.

a class; grouping; classification: She travels in a different social bracket.

Architecture.

any horizontally projecting support for an overhanging weight, as a corbel, cantilever, or console.
any of a series of fancifully shaped false consoles beneath an ornamental cornice.

(on a staircase) an ornamental piece filling the angle between a riser and its tread.

Shipbuilding.

a flat plate, usually triangular with a flange on one edge, used to unite and reinforce the junction between two flat members or surfaces meeting at an angle.
any member for reinforcing the angle between two members or surfaces.

a projecting fixture for gas or electricity.

Gunnery. range or elevation producing both shorts and overs on a target.

verb (used with object)

to furnish with or support by a bracket or brackets.

to place within brackets; couple with a brace.

to associate, mention, or class together: Gossip columnists often bracket them together, so a wedding may be imminent.

Gunnery. to place (shots) both beyond and short of a target.

Photography. to take (additional shots) at exposure levels above and below the estimated correct exposure.

Nearby words

bracing, bracingly, braciola, brack, bracken, bracket, bracket clock, bracket creep, bracket foot, bracket fungi, bracket fungus

Origin of bracket

1570–80; earlier also brag(g)et (in architecture); of obscure origin

Related formsun·brack·et·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bracket

Do you fill out one bracket or different brackets for each pool?
ESPN’s Bracket Champion Shares His March Madness Secrets|Ben Teitelbaum|March 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Are you cool with your bracket getting ruined if UCLA wins the national title?
ESPN’s Bracket Champion Shares His March Madness Secrets|Ben Teitelbaum|March 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
People ask me this: Would you trade UCLA winning the national championship for not winning the bracket challenge?
ESPN’s Bracket Champion Shares His March Madness Secrets|Ben Teitelbaum|March 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She spent an hour and a half on her bracket strategy, trying to pin down what kind of girl Galavis would be interested in.
Fans of ‘The Bachelor’ Embrace Brackets, Bookies, and Buy-ins in Online Betting Pools|Nina Strochlic|January 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Surfers are arranged in head-to-head matchups in a bracket system, and advance with each heat win.
Kelly Slater Gets a Perfect Surfing Score|Mark Lukach|June 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
So saying, he lifted down the great clock which stood on a bracket on the wall, and placed it on a side table.
The Lion of the North|G.A. Henty
"Carry this light up to the third hall," said Margaret, pointing to a lamp in a bracket.
Faithful Margaret|Annie Ashmore
The woman got part of its flesh, and she thought it was part of the bracket bull she was eating, and she got better.
The Irish Fairy Book|Various
What is the distinction in use between the bracket and the parenthesis?
Punctuation|Frederick W. Hamilton
Madunnah handed over the bracket to crown our baggage, and plodded bravely on, often well up to his bare knees in mud and water.
In the Tail of the Peacock|Isabel Savory

British Dictionary definitions for bracket

bracket

/ (ˈbrækɪt) /

noun

an L-shaped or other support fixed to a wall to hold a shelf, etc

one or more wall shelves carried on brackets

architect a support projecting from the side of a wall or other structureSee also corbel, ancon, console 2

Also called: square bracket either of a pair of characters, [ ], used to enclose a section of writing or printing to separate it from the main text

a general name for parenthesis, square bracket, brace (def. 6)

a group or category falling within or between certain defined limitsthe lower income bracket

the distance between two preliminary shots of artillery fire in range-finding

a skating figure consisting of two arcs meeting at a point, tracing the shape ⋎

verb -kets, -keting or -keted (tr)

to fix or support by means of a bracket or brackets

to put (written or printed matter) in brackets, esp as being irrelevant, spurious, or bearing a separate relationship of some kind to the rest of the text

to couple or join (two lines of text, etc) with a brace

(often foll by with) to group or class togetherto bracket Marx with the philosophers

to adjust (artillery fire) until the target is hit

Word Origin for bracket

C16: from Old French braguette codpiece, diminutive of bragues breeches, from Old Provençal braga, from Latin brāca breeches

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bracket (1 of 2)

bracket

1570s, bragget, "architectural support," probably from Middle French braguette "codpiece armor" (16c.), from a fancied resemblance of architectural supports to that article of attire (Spanish cognate bragueta meant both "codpiece" and "bracket"), diminutive of brague "knee pants," ultimately from Gaulish *braca "pants," itself perhaps from Germanic (cf. Old English broc "garment for the legs and trunk;" see breeches). The sense might reflect the "breeches" sense, on the notion of two limbs or of appliances used in pairs. The typographical bracket is first recorded 1750, so called for its resemblance to double supports in carpentry (a sense attested from 1610s). Senses affected by Latin brachium "arm."

Word Origin and History for bracket (1 of 2)

bracket

1797, of printed matter, "to enclose in brackets," from bracket (n.). Also, "to couple or connect with a brace" (1827), also figurative, "to couple one thing with another" in writing (1807). Artillery rangefinding sense is from 1903, from the noun (1891) in the specialized sense "distance between the ranges of two shells, one under and one over the object." Related: Bracketed; bracketing. In home-building and joinery, bracketed is attested by 1801.

bracket

noun

verb (used with object)

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Origin of bracket

Examples from the Web for bracket

British Dictionary definitions for bracket

bracket

noun

verb -kets, -keting or -keted (tr)

Word Origin for bracket

Word Origin and History for bracket (1 of 2)

bracket

Word Origin and History for bracket (1 of 2)

bracket