broch
[Scot. brokh, bruhkh]
- a circular stone tower built around the beginning of the Christian era, having an inner and an outer wall, found on the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, the Hebrides, and the mainland of Scotland.
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Origin of broch
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for broch
Historical Examples
"I can leave it at Broch anyway," he said to Signy as he stowed the bag aboard.
Viking BoysJessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby
The term "broch" has hitherto been used in a general sense in these pages.
The Testimony of TraditionDavid MacRitchie
One had bundled herself into a broch shawl and "run over" hatless.
AncestorsGertrude Atherton
So far the “broch,” or hill fort, was not unlike other hill forts and brochs, of which there are hundreds in Scotland.
The Clyde MysteryAndrew Lang
The rest of that day was spent at Broch—delightfully spent, we know, since the Yarl was host.
Viking BoysJessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby
broch
- (in Scotland) a circular dry-stone tower large enough to serve as a fortified home; they date from the Iron Age and are found esp in the north and the islands
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Word Origin
C17: from Old Norse borg; related to Old English burh settlement, burgh
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for broch
n.
prehistoric stone tower of the Scottish Highland and isles, 1650s, from Scottish broch, from Old Norse borg "castle," cognate with Old English burh (see borough).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper