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bruin: bruin: see bear
bruise: bruise: [OE] Modern English bruise is a blend of words from two sources. The main contributor is Old English brysan, which as well as ‘bruise’ meant ‘crush to pieces’, and is related to Latin frustum ‘piece broken or cut off’. But then in the early Middle English period we begin to see the influence of the unrelated Old French verb bruisier ‘break’ and its Anglo-Norman form bruser (which in modern French has become briser).

Their main effect has been on the spelling of the word, although the use of bruise for ‘break’ from the 14th to the 17th century seems to have been due to French influence too, rather than a survival of the Old English meaning: ‘Had his foot once slipped … he would have been bruised in pieces’, The most dangerous and memorable adventure of Richard Ferris 1590. Bruiser ‘large rough man’ originated in an 18th-century term for a prizefighter.
=> débris
brunette: brunette: see brown
brush: brush: [14] It is not clear whether brush for sweeping and brush as in brushwood are the same word, although both appeared in the language at about the same time, from a French source. Brush ‘broken branches’ comes from brousse, the Anglo-Norman version of Old French broce, which goes back to an unrecorded Vulgar Latin *bruscia. Brush for sweeping, on the other hand, comes from Old French broisse or brosse.

It is tempting to conclude that this is a variant of Old French broce, particularly in view of the plausible semantic link that brushwood (cut twigs, etc) bundled together and tied to a handle makes a serviceable brush (that is how broom came to mean ‘brush’). The verb brush ‘move fast or heedlessly’ comes from Old French brosser ‘dash through undergrowth’, a derivative of broce; its frequent modern connotation of ‘touching in passing’ comes from the other brush.
brusque: brusque: [17] Brusque comes ultimately from the name of an unpleasant spiky shrub, the butcher’s broom, which instead of normal branches and leaves has twigs flattened into a leaflike shape, with at their ends stiff spines. The term for this in Vulgar Latin was *bruscum, which, passing into Italian as brusco, came to be used as an adjective, meaning ‘sharp, tart’. French borrowed it as brusque ‘lively, fierce’, and passed it on to English. It seems likely that English brisk [16] is derived from it.
=> brisk
brute: brute: [15] The primordial meaning of brute appears to be ‘heavy’. It comes from Latin brūtus ‘heavy’, and it has been speculated that it is related to Latin grāvis ‘heavy’ (from which English gets grave, gravity, and grieve). In Latin the sense ‘heavy’ had already progressed to ‘stupid’, and it later developed to ‘of the lower animals’. It was with this meaning that the word reached English via French. Connotations of ‘cruelty’ do not begin to appear until the 17th century. Brut meaning ‘very dry’ in relation to champagne is a late 19th-century borrowing of the French adjectival form brut, literally ‘rough’.
candelabrum: candelabrum: see candle
February: February: [13] Etymologically, February is the ‘month of purification’. The word comes via Old French feverier and late Latin febrārius from Latin februārius (English reintroduced the Latin -ruar- spelling in the 14th century). This was a derivative of februa, a word borrowed into Latin from the language of the ancient Sabine people of Italy which was used to designate a festival of purification held on 15 February.
abrupt (adj.): 1580s, from Latin abruptus "broken off, precipitous, disconnected," past participle of abrumpere "break off," from ab- "off" (see ab-) + rumpere "break" (see rupture (n.)). Related: Abruptly; abruptness.
art brut (n.): art done by prisoners, lunatics, etc., 1955, French, literally "raw art" (see art (n.) + brute).
Bruce: a Norman surname, but etymology from Brix (place in La Manche, Normandy) is now considered doubtful ["Dictionary of English Surnames"]. Originated in Britain with Robert de Bruis, a baron listed in the Domesday Book. His son, a friend of David I, king of Scotland, was granted by him in 1124 the lordship of Annandale, and David's son, Robert, founded the Scottish House of Bruce. As a given name for U.S. males, most popular for boys born c. 1946-1954.
brucellosis (n.): 1930, Modern Latin, named for Scottish physician Sir David Bruce (1855-1931), who discovered the bacteria that caused it (1887).
bruin (n.): "bear," late 15c., from Middle Dutch Bruin, name of the bear in "Reynard the Fox" fables; literally "brown;" cognate with Old English brun (see brown (adj.)).
bruise (v.): Old English brysan "to crush, bruise, pound," from Proto-Germanic *brusjan, from PIE root *bhreu- "to smash, cut, break up" (cognates: Old Irish bronnaim "I wrong, I hurt;" Breton brezel "war," Vulgar Latin brisare "to break"). Merged by 17c. with Anglo-French bruiser "to break, smash," from Old French bruisier "to break, shatter," perhaps from Gaulish *brus-, from the same PIE root. Related: Bruised; bruising.
bruise (n.): 1540s, from bruise (v.).
bruiser (n.): "a pugilist," 1744, agent noun from bruise (v.).
bruit (v.): "to report," 1520s, from bruit (n.) "rumor, tiding, fame, renown" (mid-15c.), from French bruit (n.), from bruire "to make noise, roar," which is of uncertain origin. Related: Bruited; bruiting.
brulee (adj.): from French brûlée "burned," from brûler, from Old French brusler (11c.); see broil (v.1). Crème brûlée was known in English by various names from early 18c., including a translated burnt cream.
brumal (adj.): "belonging to winter," 1510s, from Latin brumalis, from bruma "winter" (see brume). The Latin word also is the ultimate source of Brumaire, second month (Oct. 22-Nov. 20) in calendar of the French Republic, literally "the foggy month," coined 1793 by Fabre d'Eglantine from French brume "fog" (see brume).
brume (n.): "fog, mist," 1808, from French brume "fog" (14c.), in Old French, "wintertime," from Latin bruma "winter," perhaps with an original sense "season of the shortest day," from *brevima, contracted from brevissima, superlative of brevis "short" (see brief (adj.)).
brummagem (adj.): "cheap and showy," 19c., from a noun, from the vulgar pronunciation of Birmingham, England, in reference to articles mass-manufactured there. The word also recalls Birmingham's old reputation for counterfeiting.
brunch: 1896, British student slang merger of breakfast and lunch.
To be fashionable nowadays we must 'brunch'. Truly an excellent portmanteau word, introduced, by the way, last year, by Mr. Guy Beringer, in the now defunct Hunter's Weekly, and indicating a combined breakfast and lunch. ["Punch," Aug. 1, 1896]
brunet (n.): "dark-complexioned person," 1887, from French brunet, diminutive of brun "brown," which is from a Germanic source (see brown (adj.)).
brunette (adj.): 1660s, from French brunette (masc. brunet), from Old French brunet "brownish, brown-haired, dark-complexioned," fem. diminutive of brun "brown" (12c.), of West Germanic origin (see brown (adj.)). As a noun, "woman of a dark complexion," from 1710. The metathesized form, Old French burnete, is the source of the surname Burnett. Burnete also was used of a wool-dyed cloth of superior quality, originally dark brown.
brung: dialectal past tense and past participle of bring (v.).
Bruno: masc. proper name, from Old High German Bruno, literally "brown" (see brown (adj.)).
brunt (n.): early 14c., "a sharp blow," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old Norse brundr "sexual heat," or bruna "to advance like wildfire." Meaning "chief force" is first attested 1570s.
brush (v.1): late 15c., "to clean or rub (clothing) with a brush," also (mid-15c.) "to beat with a brush," from brush (n.1). Related: Brushed; brushing. To brush off someone or something, "rebuff, dismiss," is from 1941.
brush (n.1): "dust-sweeper, a brush for sweeping," late 14c., also, c. 1400, "brushwood, brushes;" from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse) "a brush" (13c.), perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bruscia "a bunch of new shoots" (used to sweep away dust), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz "underbrush."
brush (n.2): "shrubbery," early 14c., from Anglo-French bruce "brushwood," Old North French broche, Old French broce "bush, thicket, undergrowth" (12c., Modern French brosse), from Gallo-Roman *brocia, perhaps from *brucus "heather," or possibly from the same source as brush (n.1).
brush (v.2): "move briskly" especially past or against something or someone, 1670s, from earlier sense (c. 1400) "to hasten, rush," probably from brush (n.2), on the notion of a horse, etc., passing through dense undergrowth (compare Old French brosser "travel (through woods)," and Middle English noun brush "charge, onslaught, encounter," mid-14c.), but brush (n.1) probably has contributed something to it as well. Related: Brushed; brushing.
brushfire (n.): 1850, from brush (n.2) + fire (n.).
brusque (adj.): 1650s, from French brusque "lively, fierce," from Italian adjective brusco "sharp, tart, rough," perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bruscum "butcher's broom plant."
Brussels: capital of old Brabant, now of Belgium, of Germanic origin, from brocca "marsh" + sali "room, building," from Latin cella (see cell). It arose 6c. as a fortress on an island in a river. As a type of carpet, from 1799; as a type of lace, from 1748. Brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea gemmifera) attested from 1748 (first written description is from 1580s).
brut (adj.): "dry," 1891, used of wines, especially champagnes, from French brut (14c.), literally "raw, crude" (see brute).
brutal (adj.): mid-15c., in reference to the nature of animals, from Latin brutus (see brute (adj.)) + -al (1). Of persons, "fierce," 1640s. Related: Brutally.
brutality (n.): 1630s, "savage cruelty, inhuman behavior," from brutal + -ity. Literal sense "condition or state of a brute" is from 1711.
brute (adj.): early 15c., "of or belonging to animals," from Middle French brut "coarse, brutal, raw, crude," from Latin brutus "heavy, dull, stupid," an Oscan word, from PIE root *gwere- (2) "heavy" (see grave (adj.)). Before reaching English the meaning expanded to "of the lower animals." Used of human beings from 1530s.
brute (n.): 1610s, from brute (adj.).
brutish (adj.): 1530s, "pertaining to animals," from brute (n.) + -ish. In reference to human brutes, from 1550s. Related: Brutishly; brutishness.
Brutus: A surname of the Junian gens. Association with betrayal traces to Marcus Junius Brutus (c. 85 B.C.E.-42 B.C.E.), Roman statesman and general and conspirator against Caesar.
bruxism (n.): "grinding the teeth unconsciously," from Greek ebryxa, aorist root of brykein "to gnash the teeth."
candelabrum (n.): 1811, from Latin candelabrum, which meant "candlestick," from candela (see candle). Old English had candeltreow "candle-tree" in same sense. The word was borrowed earlier (late 14c.) from Old French as chaundelabre with the Latin sense. Candelabra is the Latin plural.
cerebrum (n.): 1610s, from Latin cerebrum "brain" (see cerebral).
February (n.): late 14c., ultimately from Latin februarius mensis "month of purification," from februare "to purify," from februa "purifications, expiatory rites" (plural of februum "means of purification, expiatory offerings"), which is of uncertain origin, said to be a Sabine word. De Vaan says from Proto-Italic *f(w)esro-, from a PIE word meaning "the smoking" or "the burning" (thus possibly connected with fume (n.)). The sense then could be either purification by smoke or a burnt offering.

The last month of the ancient (pre-450 B.C.E.) Roman calendar, so named in reference to the Roman feast of purification, held on the ides of the month. The Old English name for it was solmonað "mud month." English first borrowed the Roman name from Old French Feverier, which yielded Middle English Feverer, Feoverel, etc. (c. 1200) before the 14c. respelling to conform to Latin.
hairbrush (n.): also hair-brush, 1590s, from hair + brush (n.1).
imbrue (v.): early 15c., "to soak, steep;" mid-15c., "to stain, soil," from Old French embreuvere "to moisten," a metathesis of embeuvrer, from em- (see im-) + -bevrer, ultimately from Latin bibere "to drink" (see imbibe). Or perhaps from Old French embroue "soiled," ultimately from boue "mud, dirt."
labrum (n.): lip or lip-like part, 1816, in various anatomical and zoological uses, from Latin labrum, cognate with labium "lip" (see lip (n.)). Also noted mid-15c. as the name of some herb.
sagebrush (n.): 1850, from sage (n.1), to which it has no biological affinity, + brush (n.2). Said to be so called for resemblance of its appearance or odor.
Sage-brush is very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure. Nothing can abide the taste of it but the jackass and his illegitimate child, the mule. ["Mark Twain," "Roughing It"]
Struldbrug (n.): "person who never dies but becomes senile and useless," 1726, from "Gulliver's Travels," a made-up word.