brotel
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Middle English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old English *brotul.
Adjective[edit]
brotel
- Fragile, brittle, easily broken.
- Easily hurt or destroyed, feeble.
- Changeable, mutable; precarious, uncertain.
- late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Merchant's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1279-1280:
- [...] On brotel ground they builde, and brotelnesse
They finde, whan they wene sikernesse.- [...] On brittle ground they build, and insecurity
They find when they expect security.
- [...] On brittle ground they build, and insecurity
- late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Merchant's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1279-1280:
- Morally weak, fickle, vacillating, untrustworthy.
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- “brotel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.