Wiktionary

bruit

See also: brúit and brùit

English

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WOTD – 10 August 2020

Etymology 1

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The noun is derived from Middle English bruit (“commotion, tumult; fame, renown; collective noun for a group of barons”) [and other forms],[1] from Anglo-Norman brut (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour; collective noun for a group of barons”) and Old French bruit (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour”) (modern French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”)), a noun use of the past participle of bruire (“to make a noise; to rattle; to roar; to rustle”), from Late Latin brugere, an alteration of Latin rugīre (“to roar”) (the present active infinitive of rugiō (“to bray; to bellow, roar; to rumble”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“to belch; to roar”)), possibly influenced by Late Latin bragere (“to bray”). The English word is cognate with Catalan brogir (“to roar”); Old Occitan bruir, brugir (“to roar”).[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bruit (countable and uncountable, plural bruits)

  1. (uncountable, archaic) Hearsay, rumour; talk; (countable) an instance of this.
    • a. 1531, John Galt, quoting Thomas Wolsey, “[Appendix. Book III.] No. V. The Copie of My Lord Cardinall’s L’res, Sent to the Lord Dacre of the Northe.”, in The Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey, London: […] T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, published 1812, →OCLC, page xxxii:
      [R]ememberyng yor accustumable proudent demeanor as well in the atteyning assurid knowledge of the intended purpose of the Scotts, from tyme to tyme, by suche good esp'iell and intelligence that ye have had among the said Scotts, as of the bruits and newes occ'rant amongs them, it is the more mervailed, that if eyther any such attemptats have been made by the said Scotts upon the king's subjects, or that any such bruits be in Scotland of the said duke's thider comyng, that ye have not advertised the king's highnes or me thereof before this tyme; [...]
    • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], page 167, column 1:
      Brother, we will proclaime you out of hand, / The bruit thereof will bring you many friends.
    • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 97, column 1:
      But yet I loue my Country, and am not / One that reioyces in the common wracke, / As common bruite doth put it.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Vaine-Glory. LIIII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 308:
      Neither can they [vainglorious people] be Secret, and therefore not Effectuall; but according to the French Prouerbe; Beaucoup de Bruit, peu de Fruit: Much Bruit, little Fruit.
    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVII. From Mr. Lovelace, in Continuation.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC, page 104:
      Common bruit!—Is virtue to be eſtabliſhed by common bruit only?—Has her virtue ever been proved?—Who has dared to try her virtue?
    • 1780 November 7, John Adams, “Letter XXXVI”, in Correspondence of the Late President Adams. […], number 1, Boston, Mass.: […] Everett and Munroe, […], published 1809, →OCLC, page 266:
      The bruits of a treaty between the United Provinces and the United States, are as true as moſt of the bruits.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., →OCLC, →OL:
      And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, [...]
  2. (countable, obsolete) A clamour, an outcry; a noise.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nahum 3:19, column 2:
      There is no healing of thy bruiſe: thy wound is grieuous: all that heare the bruit of thee, ſhall clap the hands ouer thee: for vpon whom hath not thy wickedneſſe paſſed continually?
    • 1827, Thomas Hood, “The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies”, in The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, Hero and Leander, Lycus the Centaur, and Other Poems, Philadelphia, Pa.: E[liakim] Littell, […], and J. Grigg, […], →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 6:
      [S]ome fresh bruit / Startled me all aheap!—and soon I saw / The horridest shape that ever raised my awe,— [...]

Verb

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bruit (third-person singular simple present bruits, present participle bruiting, simple past and past participle bruited)

  1. (transitive, archaic in British, current in the US) To disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.
    • 1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 20, recto:
      And if it be to be beleued, as bruted is by fame. / A day did paſſe without the Sunne.
    • a. 1576, Matthew Parker, John Strype, “[An Appendix to Archbishop Parker’s Life.] Number XI. Articles for the Dioceses, to be Inquired of in the Archbishop’s Metropolitical Visitation.”, in The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker, the First Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. […], volume III, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1821, →OCLC, paragraph 22, page 32:
      Generally, Whether there be [...] any that stubbornly refuse to conform themselves to unity and good religion: any that bruiteth abroad rumours of the alteration of the same, or otherwise that disturbeth good orders, and the quietnes of Christs Church and Christian congregation.
    • 1590, Thomas Hariot [i.e., Thomas Harriot], “To the Adventvrers, Favorers, and VVellvvillers of the Enterprise for the Inhabitting and Planting in Virginia”, in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, […], Frankfurt am Main: […] Ioannis Wecheli, […], →OCLC; reprinted as Narrative of the First English Plantation of Virginia […], London: Bernard Quaritch, […], 1893, →OCLC, page 9:
      There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 127–128:
      And the Kings rowſe the heauen shall brute againe, / Reſpeaking earthly thunder; [...]
    • 1822 September 1, “Character of an Ex-sheriff”, in The Rambler’s Magazine; or, Fashionable Emporium of Polite Literature, […], volume I, number IX, London: [William] Benbow, […], →OCLC, page 413:
      Even his amours he bruits forth to the public, to the delight of every pot-boy.
    • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 33.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 128:
      As he took John Willet's view of the matter in regard to the propriety of not bruiting the tale abroad, unless the spirit should appear to him again, in which case it would be necessary to take immediate counsel with the clergyman, it was solemnly resolved that it should be hushed up and kept quiet.
    • 1859, Herodotus, “The Sixth Book of the History of Herodotus, Entitled Erato”, in George Rawlinson, Henry Rawlinson, J[ohn] G[ardner] Wilkinson, transl., The History of Herodotus. […] In Four Volumes, volume III, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 64, page 458:
      In course of time Ariston died; and Demaratus received the kingdom: but it was fated, as it seems, that these words, when bruited abroad, should strip him of his sovereignty.
    • 1908, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “Time—Place—Conditions”, in The Elusive Pimpernel, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 121:
      What need to bruit our pleasant quarrel abroad? You will like the weapons, sir, and you shall have your own choice from the pair … You are a fine fencer, I feel sure …
    • 1914, Ovid, “[The Amores.] Book the Third.”, in Grant Showerman, transl., edited by T[homas] E[thelbert] Page and W[illiam] H[enry] D[enham] Rouse, Heroides and Amores […] (Loeb Classical Library; 41), London: William Heinemann; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section I, page 445:
      Thou art not ware, but thou art tossed on the tongues of all the city, casting away all shame, thou bruitest abroad thy deeds.
    • 1974, Marvin Kaye, chapter 20, in The Grand Ole Opry Murders (A Hilary Quayle Mystery; 2), London: Head of Zeus, published 2014, →ISBN:
      TV news shows had been bruiting the Boulder case, too; as a result, the atmosphere in the press section that night was knife-keen.
    • 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, published 2003, →ISBN, page 421:
      Paranoid. Now he knew what it meant, this word that was bandied and bruited so easily, and he sensed the connections being made around him, [...]
    • 2010 August 4, Darren Murph, “China’s Maglev Trains to Hit 1,000km/h in Three Years, […]”, in Engadget‎[1], archived from the original on 10 August 2020:
      [I]t's bruited that the tunnel would cost "10 to 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) more than the current high speed railway for each kilometer." Pony up, taxpayers!
    • 2013, Marie Arana, “Man of Difficulties”, in Bolívar: American Liberator, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 388:
      Bruiting about this notion of a "monarchical project," the Englishman persuaded himself that [Simón] Bolívar himself aspired to such a model.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of bruit
infinitive (to) bruit
present tense past tense
1st-person singular bruit bruited
2nd-person singular bruit, bruitest† bruited, bruitedst†
3rd-person singular bruits, bruiteth† bruited
plural bruit
subjunctive bruit bruited
imperative bruit —
participles bruiting bruited

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”), from Old French bruit (“noise; sounds”); see further at etymology 1.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bruit (plural bruits)

  1. (medicine) An abnormal sound in the body heard on auscultation (for example, through using a stethoscope); a murmur. [from 19th c.]
    • 1835 February 14, F[rançois] Magendie, “Physiology. Lectures on the Physical Conditions of the Tissues of the Body, as Applied to the Explanation of the Vital Phenomena. […] Lecture XVIII.”, in Thomas Wakley, editor, The Lancet, volume I, number 598, London: […] Mills & Co., […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 697, column 1:
      Gentlemen,—At the close of my last lecture I asserted that the bruit of the heart does not reside in the organ itself, that is to say, is not produced by any mechanism in the interior of the heart, or by a concurrence of circumstances independent of the surrounding organs. I showed you this clearly in the heart of the swan, whose sternum we removed. Upon opening the pericardium and placing the ear close to the heart, or even employing the stethoscope, no bruit or sound of any kind was to be distinguished.
    • 1838 October 1, “Researches on the Cause of the Abnormal Auscultatory Sounds in the Large Arteries, &c. By M. Beau.”, in James Johnson, Henry James Johnson, editors, The Medico-chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine, volume 29 (New Series), number 18, London: S. Highley, […], →OCLC, page 572, column 1:
      Besides chlorosis, there are several analogous affections, especially such as proceed from large losses of blood, in which the arterial bruits are generally very distinctly perceptible. In all these cases the existence of the bruits coincides with a more than ordinary fulness of the pulse: when this ceases, the bruits become invariably less and less manifest. [Translated from the Archives Generales de Medecine.]
    • 1879 October, “The Seat of the So-called Anæmic Bruit of the Cardiac Base”, in I[saac] Minis Hays, editor, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, volume LXXVIII (New Series), number CLVI, Philadelphia, Pa.: Henry C[harles] Lea, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 565:
      The bruit in the pulmonary artery is always accompanied by the jugular bruit. In cases where the mitral valve is affected, we are sure to meet with two other bruits: one of which is in the pulmonary artery, and the other in the jugular veins. [Summarized from the London Medical Record, 15 June 1879.]
    • 1953, William Likoff, John H. Davie, “The Normal Heart”, in Franklin C[arl] Massey, editor, Clinical Cardiology, Baltimore, Md.: The Williams & Wilkins Company, →OCLC, page 111:
      The recognition and designation of a murmur as functional is a frontal challenge, for there is no absolute means of proof. The bruit is located most commonly at the pulmonic area, is of faint intensity, and uniform pitch.
    • 2013, Barbara Aehlert, “Atrial Rhythms”, in ECGs Made Easy, 5th edition, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Mosby, →ISBN, page 117, column 1:
      Check for carotid bruits by listening to each carotid artery with a stethoscope. A bruit is a blowing or rushing sound that is created by the turbulence within the vessel. If a bruit is heard, do not perform this procedure.
Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “bruit, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “bruit, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2016; “bruit, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “bruit, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2016; “bruit, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French bruit, used as a noun of the past participle form of bruire (“to roar”), from a Proto-Romance alteration (by association with braire (“to bray; to cry out, shout out”)) of Latin rugītus (“brayed; bellowed, roared; rumbled”) (compare Vulgar Latin *brugitus, from Latin *brūgere). Compare also Spanish ruido, Portuguese ruído, and French rut.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bruit m (plural bruits)

  1. a noise
    Synonyms: (informal) boucan, (vulgar) bordel, (Louisiana) hélas
    Antonym: silence
  2. a rumor or report
    Synonyms: ouï-dire, rumeur

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → English: bruit

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Old French

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Etymology

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From the past participle of bruire (“to roar”), or from Vulgar Latin *brūgitus, from Latin *brūgere, an alteration of Latin rugītus (“brayed; bellowed, roared; rumbled”), from rugīre, the present active infinitive of rugiō (“to bray; to bellow, roar; to rumble”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“to belch; to roar”).

Noun

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bruit oblique singular, m (oblique plural bruiz or bruitz, nominative singular bruiz or bruitz, nominative plural bruit)

  1. noise; sounds
    Synonym: noise

Descendants

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