brunt

See also: Brunt

English

WOTD – 9 April 2016

Etymology

From Middle English brunt, bront, from Old Norse brundr or brundtíð (“oestrus, rut”), or bruna (“to rush”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹʌnt/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt

Noun

brunt (plural brunts)

1. The full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event.

   Unfortunately, poor areas such as those in New Orleans bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina’s winds.

   • 1862, Arthur Young, ‎John Chalmers Morton, The Farmer's Calendar

     There is an economy in the matter of breakages and repairs, for if the plough should be brought up upon a landfast rock, instead of the brunt coming simply on the draught rope, which would either snap or pull the framework of the plough to pieces, it is, through the pull of the one drum upon the other, immediately spread all over the field wherever the rope goes […]

   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey reels from storm's thrashing”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Though the storm raged up the East Coast, it has become increasingly apparent that New Jersey took the brunt of it.

2. The major part of something; the bulk.

   If you feel tired of walking, just think of the poor donkey who has carried the brunt of our load.

Verb

brunt (third-person singular simple present brunts, present participle brunting, simple past and past participle brunted)

1. (transitive) To bear the brunt of; to weather or withstand.

   We brunted the storm.

Anagrams

• burnt

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Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

brunt

1. neuter singular of brun

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

brunt

1. neuter singular of brun

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Swedish

Adjective

brunt

1. (deprecated template usage) indefinite neuter singular of brun