▪ I. brad
(bræd)
Also 3–6 brod, 5 brode.
[A variant of brod, which in its more general sense has retained the older form; the change of vowel is perhaps due to dialect pronunciation.]
1. A thin flattish nail of the same thickness throughout, but tapering in width, having a small ‘lip’ on one edge, instead of a head.
| 1295 in Rogers Agric. & Prices II. 490 [Elham, 300 brods]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 53 Brode, hedlese nayle, clavus acephalus. c 1450 Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 727 Hic aculius, a brad. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 254 With moost buystous broddes of yren nayled them fast to y⊇ sayd tree. 1582 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1860) II. 67, xv hondert latt brods 6/. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 158 Brad, is a Nail to Floor Rooms with. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 220 Brad, a small nail, having no head except on one edge. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 194 Brads or spikes..sometimes made nearly a foot in length for the shipwright's or builder's use. 1881 Mechanic §218 A light hammer with a small face..for driving brads. |
2. slang. (See quots.)
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Brads, halfpence; also money in general. 1841 Marryat Poacher vi, ‘Have you any brads?’..‘What are those?’..‘Any money, to be sure.’ |
▪ II. brad, v.
[f. prec.]
trans. To fasten with brads.
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 5 The pannels are..bradded on the surfaces of the framing. 1881 Mechanic §626 Each flange can then be bradded in its place. |
▪ III. † brad, ppl. a. Obs.
[var. of bred, pa. pple. of brede v.1]
Roasted, broiled.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 891 Summe baken in bred, summe brad on þe gledez. |
▪ IV. brad
obs. form of bread, broad.