Bren
(brɛn)
[f. Brno, a town in Czechoslovakia, where the gun was originally made + first syllable of Enfield, Middlesex, England, seat of a small-arms factory.]
In full, Bren gun. A type of light, quick-firing machine-gun. Also attrib., as Bren (gun) carrier, a small bullet-proof tracked vehicle, designed to carry the Bren gun and its crew.
| 1937 Times 29 Sept. 6/3 Use of the Bren Gun. 1939 War Illustr. 28 Oct. 200 A long train of Bren gun carriers is passing towards the front. 1940 Times Weekly 7 Aug. 8/4 A motor-cyclist detachment of the Lancashire Fusiliers followed by their Bren carriers. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night 67 The steady rattle of an automatic, a Lewis or a Bren. |