branks

American  

[brangks] / bræŋks /

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. Sometimes brank a device consisting of a headpiece with a flat, iron bit to restrain the tongue, formerly used to punish scolds.

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branks British  

/ bræŋks /

plural noun

1. (formerly) an iron bridle used to restrain scolding women

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Etymology

Origin of branks

1585–95; perhaps to be identified with Middle English bernak “bridle, snaffle”; see barnacle ²

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

branks

Its parent company, Rossiya Segodnya, is responsible for state news agency RIA Novosti and news branks like Sputnik, CNN reported.

From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2024

Mumps, or branks, is a contagious inflammation of the parotis and maxillary glands, and has generally been classed under the word Cynanche or Angina, to which it bears no analogy.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Erasmus Darwin

I’ll be in Dumfries the morn gif the beast be to the fore, and the branks bide hale.

From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Robert Burns

Several Shropshire branks remain at the present time.

From Bygone Punishments by William Andrews

If that did not stop the rancour of their tongues he tried the effect of an instrument called the "branks."

From The Life of a Celebrated Buccaneer A Page of Past History for the Use of the Children of To-day by Richard Clynton

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