bracket
pronunciation
How to pronounce bracket in British English:
UK [ˈbrækɪt]
How to pronounce bracket in American English:
US [ˈbrækɪt]
-
- Noun:
- a category falling within certain defined limits
- either of two punctuation marks ([ or ]) used to enclose textual material
- either of two punctuation marks (`') sometimes used to enclose textual material
- an L-shaped support projecting from a wall (as to hold a shelf)
-
- Verb:
- support with brackets
- place into brackets
- classify or group
Word Origin
- bracket
- bracket: [16] The word bracket appears to have come from medieval French braguette, which meant ‘codpiece’, a resemblance evidently having been perceived between the codpiece of a pair of men’s breeches and the ‘projecting architectural support’ which was the original meaning of bracket in English. Before the word even arrived in English, it had quite an eventful career.The French word was a diminutive form of brague, which in the plural meant ‘breeches’. It was borrowed from Old Provençal braga, which got it from Latin brāca; Latin in turn acquired it from Gaulish brāca, but the Gaulish word seems ultimately to have been of Germanic origin, and to be related to English breeches.=> breeches
- bracket (n.)
- 1570s, bragget, "architectural support," probably from Middle French braguette "codpiece armor" (16c.), from a fancied resemblance of architectural supports to that article of attire (Spanish cognate bragueta meant both "codpiece" and "bracket"), diminutive of brague "knee pants," ultimately from Gaulish *braca "pants," itself perhaps from Germanic (compare Old English broc "garment for the legs and trunk;" see breeches). The architectural meaning also might reflect the "breeches" sense, on the notion of two limbs or of appliances used in pairs. The typographical bracket is first recorded 1750, so called for its resemblance to double supports in carpentry (a sense attested from 1610s). Senses affected by Latin brachium "arm."
- bracket (v.)
- 1797, of printed matter, "to enclose in brackets," from bracket (n.). Also, "to couple or connect with a brace" (1827), also figurative, "to couple one thing with another" in writing (1807). Artillery rangefinding sense is from 1903, from the noun (1891) in the specialized sense "distance between the ranges of two shells, one under and one over the object." Related: Bracketed; bracketing. In home-building and joinery, bracketed is attested by 1801.
Example
- 1. Buy the $ 30 windshield bracket , which fires up the gps automatically when you insert the droid , and nobody will know you 're not running some $ 500 gps unit .
- 2. Even many company directors would fall short of that income bracket .
- 3. Open clip and remove line from clip and bracket .
- 4. But with it went an apparent decline in another aspect of mobility : more people seem to be marrying within their education and income bracket , especially at the top .
- 5. No. it 's just a ornamental bracket .