bracket
- 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.
- 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.
Origin of bracket
Examples from the Web for brackets
Contemporary Examples
The entire process of preplanning and printing the hand, brackets, and cuffs takes just over a day.
Your cubicle mates pouring over their brackets with all of the serious intent and fevered diligence of Talmudic scholars.
So there you have it, folks, several foolhardy techniques to fill out your brackets and make a run at office immortality.
Some of it was unnecessary giveaways, like making the Bush tax cuts permanent for most brackets.
Sticking with six brackets is supposedly meant to signal that he believes in a little stability and is not a loon.
Historical Examples
The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though the images have disappeared.
English VillagesP. H. Ditchfield
The pagination of the original edition has in this been indicated by brackets, as .
Chronicles of Border WarfareAlexander Scott Withers
She knows he would sit on the brackets with the little statues.
In ward number 23 the oil lamps, stuck in brackets along the walls, smoked.
The Long RollMary Johnston
The pins are then cemented firmly to the brackets by a little plaster of Paris.
On Laboratory ArtsRichard Threlfall
bracket
- 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 ⋎
- 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
Word Origin and History for brackets
bracket
n.
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."
bracket
v.
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.
brackets
Marks — [ ] — resembling parentheses with square corners. Brackets are often used within quotations to distinguish between the quoter's own words and those of the writer being quoted: “He [the president] made a memorable speech at Gettysburg.”