▪ I. ‖ brut, n.
(bruːt)
Also 5 brout.
[= M.Welsh brut, mod.W. brud, in the names of the Welsh chronicles of British history, as in the Brut Gruffudd ab Arthur of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Brut Tysilio, Brut y Tywysogion, etc. Salesbury Dict. Eng. & Welsh (1547) has ‘Brut, Walshe prophecies’; Davies 1632 ‘Brud, brut, historia, chronica; sumitur et pro vaticinio.’ The Welsh Bible has (Dan. ii. 27) brudwyr ‘brut-men’ = soothsayers. Brut ‘chronicle’ was a transferred use of Brut = Brutus, as in Le Roman de Brut of Wace, and the Brut of Layamon, a chronicle or genealogy of the legendary Brutus and his descendants in Britain. Whether the transferred sense arose in Welsh, or was taken from a French title, as the Brut of Wace, or the later Petit Brut of Raoul de Bohon (c 1350), is doubtful; but the latter is more likely. For the Brutus legend, see Brute2.]
A chronicle of British history from the mythical Brutus downward. (The ME. instance may refer to Wace, Layamon, or some Welsh Brut.)
| c 1450 Arth. & Merl. (Mätz.) 2740 So ich in the brout yfinde. 1845 Athenæum 4 Jan. 9 A Greek version of our brute-epos. 1847 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Church Pref. 7 The only other remains still extant of Ancient Welsh literature consist of Bruts, or Chronicles. 1883 H. M. Kennedy Ten Brink's E.E. Lit. 188 A history of those who first had possession of England ‘after the flood’ or as a Norman would, perhaps, even then have called it, a Brut. |
▪ II. † brut, v. Obs.
Also 7 brutte.
[perh. a. F. brouter ‘to browse’: but cf. bret, brit v.]
1. intr. To browse. Hence brutting vbl. n.
| 1577 [see brutting vbl. n.]. 1674 Ray S. & E.C. Wds. 60 To brutte, to browse. Suss. Dial. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria (1729) 145 Marking what the goats so greedily brutted upon. |
2. trans. dial. To break off (young shoots).
| Mod. Kent. Dial., Your potatoes don't come up because the young shoots were brutted off. |
▪ III. ‖ brut, a.
(bryt)
[Fr.]
Of wines: unsweetened.
| 1891 Longman's Mag. Aug. 417 An especial brand of brut champagne. Ibid., Brut wines. 1896 Pall Mall Mag. Mar. 399 Tell my man to bring me a quail, broiled, and a pint of Piper Heidsieck, brut. 1932 Wodehouse Louder & Funnier 12 Washing it down with a brut champagne of a vintage year. |
▪ IV. brut
obs. form of bret, a kind of fish.