branched, ppl. a.
(brɑːnʃt, -æ-)
[f. branch n. and v. + -ed.]
1. Provided with branches. lit. and fig. (Cf. senses of the n.; often combined with numeral or other adjs., as double-branched, five-branched, many-branched.)
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 753 Vnder a tri appeltre..þat was braunched ful brode. 1567 J. Studley Seneca's Hippolytus (1581) 56 The Elme displayes his braunched armes. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 157 A double branched brow-antler. 1841 Mrs. Browning House Clouds 29 A spacious hall..Branched with corridors sublime. 1877 R. J. More Under Balkans, A lighted triple-branched wax taper. |
† 2. a. Divided, distributed; descended (from a family or an ancestor). (Cf. branch v. 3–5.) Obs.
| 1429 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 141 Royal braunched, descended from two lynes. |
b. Adorned with a figured pattern in embroidery, gilding, chasing, etc. Cf. branch v. 6.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxvii. xxxii, The rofe was braunched curiously Of the beten golde both gaye and glorious. 1552 H. W. King Invent. Ch. Goods (1885) 15 A cope of blew and Braunched Damaske..xxs. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 54 Calling my Officers about me, in my branch'd Veluet gowne. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3895/4 Seven Silver Spoons..branched on the tops. |
3. Hence in Arch. branched work, the carved foliage on friezes and monuments.
4. Chem. branched chain: an open chain (chain n. 5 g) of atoms having one or more side chains. Freq. attrib.
| 1889 G. M'Gowan tr. Bernthsen's Text-bk. Org. Chem. i. 43 The boiling point becomes lowered continuously the more the carbon atom chain is branched. 1903 A. J. Walker tr. Holleman's Text-bk. Org. Chem. I. 46 In branched chains there are carbon atoms which are directly linked to three or four others. Ibid., Branched-chain compounds are often distinguished by the prefix iso. 1939 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIII. 42 Straight-run petrols..and branched-chain paraffins are the outstandingly useful aviation fuels. 1946 Nature 14 Dec. 863/1 One fundamental approach to this problem was based on fatty acids with branched-chains. |