† brerd Obs. exc. dial.
Also 1 breard, briord, 3 breord, 4 brurde, 4–5 brerde, 6 Sc. breird.
[OE. brerd brim, margin; cf. OHG. brort, brord prow, margin, lip, also OE. brord point, prick, ON. broddr shaft, pike: see braird, and brod.]
The topmost surface or edge: rim, brim, brink.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John ii. 7 Hiᵹ ᵹefyldon þa oþ þone brerd [Lindisf. & Rushw. briorde]. c 1050 Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 178 Crepido, brerd uel ofer. c 1200 Ormin 14040 And filledenn upp till þe brerd Wiþþ waterr þeȝȝre fetless. c 1205 Lay. 23322 From breorde to grunde. a 1225 Ancr. R. 324 Þe þet nappeð upon helle brerde, he torpleð ofte al in. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxxvii. 11 He made to it a goldun brerde. 1424 E.E. Wills (1882) 56 Six saucers of siluere merkid with a sink foil vnder þe brerdez. c 1475 Cath. Angl. 42 (MS. A) Brerde [v.r. Brede] of a wessille, labrum, abses. 1596 Declar. etc. Melville's MS. 279 (Jam.) Has gotten the breird to drink. a 1758 Ramsay Sc. Proverbs (1776) 19 (Jam.) Better hain at the brierd than at the bottom. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Breird, ‘The brerd of the water’ is..still used in Dumbartonshire for the surface of it. |
¶ See also braird n.