brook

See also Brook

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /brʊk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ʊk

Etymology 1

From Middle English brouken (“to use, enjoy”), from Old English brūcan (“to enjoy, brook, use, possess, partake of, spend”), from Proto-Germanic *brūkanan (“to enjoy, use”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrūg- (“to enjoy”). Cognate with Scots brook, brouk (“to use, enjoy”), West Frisian brûke (“to use”), Dutch bruiken (“to use”), German brauchen (“to need, require, use”), Norwegian bruke (“to use”), Latin fruor (“enjoy”). Related to fruit.

Verb

brook (third-person singular simple present brooks, present participle brooking, simple past and past participle brooked)

1. (transitive, obsolete, except in Scots) To use; enjoy; have the full employment of.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To earn; deserve.
3. (transitive) To bear; endure; support; put up with; tolerate (usually used in the negative).

   I will not brook any disobedience.

   I will brook no refusal.

   • 2005, Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, Harper:

     Nevertheless, Garcilaso does claim that the Spaniards ‘who were unable to brook the length of the discourse, had left their places and fallen on the Indians’.

Derived terms

• abrook

Translations

• See under tolerate.

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old English brōc (“brook, stream, torrent”), from Proto-Germanic *brōkaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *mrāǵ- (“silt, slime”). Cognate with Dutch broek (“marsh, swamp”), German Bruch (“marsh”), Ancient Greek βράγος (brágos, “shallows”).

Noun

brook (plural brooks)

1. a body of running water smaller than a river; a small stream.
2. (Sussex, Kent) a water meadow.
3. (Sussex, Kent, in the plural) low, marshy ground.

Synonyms

• beck
• burn
• creek
• stream

Translations

a small stream

Arabic: غدير (ar) (ghadiir) m. Arapaho: kohˀowuˀ Bulgarian: поток (bg) m., ручей (bg) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 小河 (cmn) (xiǎohé), 溪流 (cmn) (xīliú) Croatian: potok (hr) m. Czech: potok (cs) m. Dutch: beek (nl) f. Esperanto: rivereto; rojo (poetic) Faroese: løkur (fo) m. Finnish: puro; oja French: ruisseau (fr) m. German: Bach (de) m.

Hebrew: פלג (peleg) m. Hungarian: patak (hu) Interlingua: rivo Italian: ruscello (it) m., rio (it) m. Japanese: 小川 (ogawa) Macedonian: поток (mk) (pótok) m. Malay: anak sungai kecil (ms) Portuguese: riacho (pt) m. Romanian: pârâu (ro) n. Russian: ручей (ru) (ručéj) m. Spanish: arroyo (es) m. Swedish: bäck (sv) c. Yuchi: sʼakʼo

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Scots

Etymology

From Middle English bro(o)ken (“to use, enjoy, digest”), from Old English brūcan (“to use, enjoy”). See also brouk.

Verb

tae brook

1. To enjoy the use or owndom of.