▪ I. brunt, n.1
(brʌnt)
Forms: 4– brunt, 4–6 bronte, 5–6 bront, brunte, 6 brount.
[First in 14th c. Origin unknown; generally sought in ON. bruna ‘to advance with the speed of fire’; though such a formation from that is difficult to explain etymologically, and connecting links are wanting. The word may rather be an onomatopœia of Eng. itself: cf. dunt, and various br- words implying sharp or smart application of force. It is possible however that some association with burnt (in Sc. brunt), as if the ‘chief brunt’ were ‘the hottest’ of the fight, has influenced sense 4.]
† 1. A sharp blow. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 174 Bot baysment gef myn hert a brunt. 1400 Sowdone Bab. 3166 He smote the bisshope withe a bronde And gaf him an evel bronte. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. xxi. (Globe) 472/2 Sir Gawaine gave him many sad brunts and many sad strokes. |
† b. at a brunt: at one blow, at once, suddenly. Obs. (Cf. Fr. tout à coup, tout d'un coup.)
| c 1400 Alexander (Stev.) 134 All þat was bitten of the best, was at a brunt dede. a 1555 Ridley Wks. 53 Traditions..at one brunt are revived. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 69 Here Osorius..uttereth all his skill at a brunt. 1609 Bible (Douay) 2 Kings xxiii. 8 Which killed eight hundred at one brunt. |
† 2. An assault, charge, onset, violent attack. (Often after bear, abide, sustain, etc.) Obs. a. of fighting men, physical agents.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxiv, The pore souldiours Which bare the bronte euer of such shoures, And the mischiefe of werre comonly. 1531 Elyot Gov. (1834) 201 [He] there alone sustained the whole brunt of his enemies. 1570 Levins Manip. 189 A Brunt, impetus. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. i. 93. 121 Stranger engines for the brunt of war. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 491 Sustaining the charge and brunt of K. Porsenaes army. 1648 Gage West. Ind. x. (1655) 32 At the third brunt, they made those lusty souldiers flie. |
b. of sickness, temptation, persecution, etc. Obs. or arch.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 245 Strength maye suffre a brount. 1563 Homilies ii. xvi. ii. (1859) 461 So many and great brunts of affliction and persecution. a 1617 Bayne On Ephes. (1658) 127 A brunt of unbelief doth not evacuate our faith. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 533 He endures sore brunts, magnos impetus sustinet. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 210 Wishing to despise..Brunts of fate and scorns of men. |
† c. at the first brunt: at the first charge or onset; fig. at starting, at first. Obs.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys cxlviii, Though some of his men be overthrown at the first brunt. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon (1883) 395 At the fyrste brounte the Almaynes were constrayned to recule abacke. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. i. 23 A doctrine, that at the fyrste brunte seemeth base and folyshe. 1693 Mem. Ct. Teckely i. 44 They put them into disorder at the first brunt. |
3. Shock, violence, or force (of an attack).
(This more abstract sense was at first only vaguely evolved from the preceding, which it has now superseded. Phrases like brunt of war, of battle, etc. connect 2 and 3.)
a. of war, or of any material force.
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. ii. (1599) 84 All the brunt and swaigh of that daies fight. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. 42 Athens..endured the hardest and worst brunt of Darius invasion. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 40 Neither will it [Brasse] like Gold resist the utmost brunt of the Fire. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. iv. 282 Utterly averse To stand the Brunt of another Engagement. 1809 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. IV. 324 Bearing the first brunt of the enemy's attack. 1862 Marsh Eng. Lang. ii. 29 It was on the Cymry that the chief brunt of the contest fell. |
b. of an immaterial force.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 15, I must needes abide the brunt of his displeasure. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 447 When such prisoners..have weathered out the brunt of that disease. 1774 Burke Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 175, I had rather bear the brunt of all his wit. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. iv. 198 Grindal..bore the whole brunt of the queen's displeasure. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 88 To avoid the brunt of their argument. |
4. The chief stress or violence; crisis. (Formerly expressed by chief brunt, greatest brunt.)
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 4 The first three, fiue, or seuen rankes..do beare the chiefe brunt. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 144 It had inabled him to bear the greatest brunt of Humane Affairs.] 1769 Robertson Chas. V, III. xi. 309 The wing of the French which stood the brunt of the combat. 1815 Moore Lalla R. (1824) 93 Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) I. vii. ix. 239 The brunt of the danger seems past. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 241 But the English had borne the brunt of the fight. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. vii. 110 The brunt of the defence fell on ships, not on soldiers. |
† 5. A sudden effort, strain, or outburst; a ‘fit’, ‘spurt’. (Cf. 1 b.) Obs.
| c 1450 Merlin xviii. 282 Thei spored theire horse ouer the brigge at a brunt. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 76 [Oxen] they graunte to be not so good as horses at a sodeyne brunte, and (as we saye) at a deade lifte. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 12 It is but for a brunt of newfanglednesse. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. xix. (1661) 389 His vigour is not brunts only, or starts, impetus. 1670 R. Rhodes Flora's Vagaries 58 It will be but one Brunt o' th' Old mans anger. |
6. Comb., as brunt-bearing adj.
| 1654 Chapman Alphonsus Plays 1873 III. 243 Saxon lansknights and brunt-bearing Switzers. |
¶ Error for brute, bruit.
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 52 Herd ye not the Exclamation And the grete brunte..Crucyfy hym! 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxxviii. 222 The brunt went y{supt} he was chiefe heed of the prouostes treason. |
▪ II. † brunt, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
A bud, a ‘spur’ on a fruit tree.
| 1668 Markham Way to Wealth No. 9 iii. i. 97 You must gather your fruit clean, without leaves or brunts..for every brunt would be a stalk for fruit to grow upon. |
▪ III. brunt, v. rare.
(brʌnt)
[f. brunt n.1]
† 1. intr. To make an assault or attack. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 54 Bruntun, or make a soden stertynge, insilio. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 74 They would brunt without a main force. |
2. trans. To bear the brunt of, face boldly. rare.
| 1859 I. Taylor Logic in Theol. 194 Brunting the chilling fogs of a winter's afternoon, in England. 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel iv. (1885) 29 ‘Do you think they'll ever suspect us?’ ‘What if they do? We must brunt it.’ |
▪ IV. brunt
obs. and dial. pa. tense and pple. of burn v.