bruit

American  

[broot] / brut /

verb (used with object)

1. to voice abroad; rumor (used chiefly in the passive and often followed byabout ).

   The report was bruited through the village.

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noun

1. Medicine/Medical. any generally abnormal sound or murmur heard on auscultation.

2. Archaic. rumor; report.

3. Archaic. noise; din; clamor.

bruit British  

/ bruːt /

verb

1. to report; rumour

   it was bruited about that the king was dead

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noun

1. med an abnormal sound heard within the body during auscultation, esp a heart murmur

2. archaic

   1. a rumour

   2. a loud outcry; clamour

Other Word Forms

• bruiter noun

Etymology

Origin of bruit

1400–50; late Middle English (noun) < Anglo-French, Old French, noun use of past participle of bruire to roar < Vulgar Latin *brūgere, a conflation of Latin rūgīre to bellow and Vulgar Latin *bragere; bray ¹

Example Sentences

Exceptions: Your doctor hears a swishing sound, called a bruit, with a stethoscope, or you have had a stroke or mini-stroke.

From Washington Post • Dec. 8, 2009

And in the bruit of a large city, if one voice cries out above the turmoil, will not a babel of shouts rise from competitors ?

From Time Magazine Archive

Adding to the bruit of Clemens' "discov ery" was the inclusion in the Carnegie International last fortnight of his largest group painting, Water Music, which is an inept substitute for a snapshot.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was when the Utopia-readers had been at the "Montgomery" rather more than half their time that the first bruit went abroad of the jollification that presently made memorable the eve of their departure.

From Mushroom Town by Onions, Oliver

"Passants, ne faites pas de bruit, De crainte que je ne m'�veille; Car voil� la premi�re nuit Que le pauvre Scarron sommeille."

From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by Rameur, E.