bree
1 Britishnoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of bree1
Old English brīg , variant of brīw pottage; related to Old High German brīo soup, Old English brīwan to cook, Middle Irish brēo flame
Origin of bree2
C19: perhaps from earlier bree brow
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Or bawd bree, the rich hare broth of Scotland?
From Time Magazine Archive
There’s the picture of a knight, and a ladye bright, And the grene hollin abune their bree; There an Outlaw keeps five hundred men; He keeps a royal companie.
From Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Fourth Series by Sidgwick, Frank
An' whiles the bluid spangs to my bree, To lie sae saft, to live sae free, While better men maun do an' die In unco places.
From Underwoods by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Then Sally pu'd the gowans wat wi' dew an' twined her bree wi' tasseled broom, while I had a wee crackie wi' Tibby Buchan, the flesher's dochter frae Auld Reekie.
From Penelope's Progress Being Such Extracts from the Commonplace Book of Penelope Hamilton As Relate to Her Experiences in Scotland by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith
He has thrown aff his plaid, the silly auld carle, An' his bonnet frae 'boon his bree; An' wha was it but the young Maxwell!
From English Songs and Ballads by Crosland, T. W. H. (Thomas William Hodgson)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
