brogue

English

WOTD – 20 December 2006

A pair of brogues

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: brōg, IPA^(key): /bɹoʊɡ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: brōg, IPA^(key): /bɹəʊɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊɡ

Etymology 1

From Irish bróg (“boot, shoe”), from Old Irish bróc, possibly related to or origin of Old Norse brók (“breeches”). The "accent" sense may instead be derived from Irish barróg (“a hold (on the tongue)”).

Noun

brogue (plural brogues)

1. (linguistics) A strong dialectal accent.
   • 1978, Louis L'Amour, Fair Blows the Wind, Bantam Books, page 62:

     I had no doubt he knew where I was from, for I had the brogue, although not much of it.

   • 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest, Random House, page 187:

     “No-man's-land.” The words were spoken in a deep voice filled with salt water and brogue.

   • 2020 November 1, Alan Young, “Sean Connery obituary: From delivering milk in Fountainbridge to the definitive James Bond”, in The Scotsman‎^[1]:

     his brooding good looks and distinct Scottish brogue won him legions of fans worldwide.

2. A strong Oxford shoe, with ornamental perforations and wing tips.

   Synonym: brogan

   • 2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 161:

     He had one pair of brogues and the soles were in a miserable state.

3. (dated) A heavy shoe of untanned leather.

Usage notes

• Of the first sense, in Ireland this used to be a term for Irish spoken with a strong English accent, but gradually changed to mean English spoken with a strong Irish accent as English control of Ireland gradually increased and Irish waned as the standard language.

Derived terms

• brogued
• brogueing
• broguery
• broguey
• broguish

Translations

A strong dialectal accent

• Finnish: murre (fi)
• German: Dialekt (de) m
• Russian: провинциа́льный акце́нт (provinciálʹnyj akcént), ре́зкий акце́нт (rézkij akcént)
• Welsh: acen wladaidd f

A strong Oxford shoe, with ornamental perforations and wing tips.

• Finnish: brogue-kenkä
• German: Brogue (de) m (somewhat of an exotism), Budapester (de) m (though pedants may find distinction)
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: бро́ги (ru) m pl (brógi), ту́фли с перфора́цией (túfli s perforácijej)

A heavy shoe of untanned leather

• Russian: полуботи́нок (ru) m (polubotínok), башма́к (ru) m (bašmák), грубый башма́к (grubyj bašmák)

Verb

brogue (third-person singular simple present brogues, present participle broguing, simple past and past participle brogued)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To speak with a brogue (accent).
2. (intransitive) To walk.
3. (transitive) To kick.
4. (transitive) To punch a hole in, as with an awl.

See also

• Brogue shoe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Possibly from French brouiller.

Verb

brogue (third-person singular simple present brogues, present participle broguing, simple past and past participle brogued)

1. (dialect) to fish for eels by disturbing the waters.

Anagrams

• Burgeo

Fingallian

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish bróg.

Noun

brogue

1. shoe
   • 1689 James Farewell, The Irish Hudibras, or, Fingallian prince taken from the sixth book of Virgil's Æneids, and adapted to the present times. (Appendix: "Alphabetical Table" of "Fingallian Words, or Irish Phrases"):

     Brogue,

     Shooe.

Yola

Alternative forms

• brough

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish bróg.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /broːɡ/, /brəʊɡ/

Noun

brogue

1. shoe

Derived terms

• Brogeen

References

• 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