to mention or suggest for the first time: to broach a subject.
to draw (beer, liquor, etc.), as by tapping: to broach beer from a keg.
to tap or pierce.
Masonry. to shape or dress (a block of stone).
verb (used without object)
Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to veer to windward.
to break the surface of water; rise from the sea, as a fish or a submarine.
Origin of broach
1175–1225; (noun) Middle Englishbroche < Anglo-French,Old French < Vulgar Latin*brocca spike, horn, tap of a cask (Medieval Latinbroca), noun use of feminine of Latin adj. brocc(h)us projecting (said of teeth); (v.) Middle Englishbrochen < Old Frenchbroch(i)er, derivative of the noun
Related formsbroach·er, nounun·broached, adjectiveCan be confusedbroachbrooch
C14: from Old French broche, from Vulgar Latin brocca (unattested), from Latin brochus projecting
broach
2
verb
nautical(usually foll by to)to cause (a sailing vessel) to swerve sharply and dangerously or (of a sailing vessel) to swerve sharply and dangerously in a following sea, so as to be broadside to the waves
Word Origin for broach
C18: perhaps from broach1 in obsolete sense of turn on a spit
"pointed instrument," c.1300, from Old French broche (12c.) "spit for roasting, awl, point end, top," from Vulgar Latin *brocca "pointed tool," noun use of fem. of Latin adjective broccus "projecting, pointed" (used especially of teeth), perhaps of Gaulish origin (cf. Gaelic brog "awl").
broach
v.
"pierce," early 14c., from the same source as broach (n.). Meaning "begin to talk about" is 1570s, a figurative use with suggestions of "broaching" a cask or of spurring into action (cf. Old French brochier, 12c., "to spur," also "to penetrate sexually"). Related: Broachedbroaching.
