brian
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See also: Brian
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From dialectal English, probably variant of brine (“to burn”), from brine (“a burning”), from Middle English brüne (“a burn, a burning”), from Old English bryne (“a burning, conflagration, fire, flame, heat, inflammation, burn, scald, torch, fervor, passion”), from Proto-Germanic *bruniz (“fire, burning”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“burn, fire”). Cognate with Scots brin (“a flash”), Scots brin, bryne (“to be on fire, be inflamed, burn”), Old Norse bruni (“fire, burning”). More at burn.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (US) (file)
Verb[edit]
brian (third-person singular simple present brians, present participle brianing, simple past and past participle brianed)
- (dialectal, Northern England) To keep fire at the mouth of (as of an oven), to give light or to preserve heat.
Related terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Yola[edit]
Noun[edit]
brian
- Alternative form of bryne (“brain”)
References[edit]
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 28