▪ I. † ˈbranle, n. Obs.
[a. F. branle.]
1. Wavering, agitation, (?) confusion.
| 1581 Savile Tacitus' Hist. ii. (1591) 78 The Legion incensed with griefe..put them of the first [legion] in branle [impulit primanos]. |
2. A kind of dance, and the kind of music suitable to it; = brangle n.1 2, bransle 2, brantle.
| 1674 Boyle Mech. Hypoth. 34 Branles, Sarabands, Jigs, and other..Tunes. 1820 Scott Abbot xxxi, She led the last branle. |
▪ II. † ˈbranle, v. Obs. rare—1.
[a. F. branle-r ‘to shake’; ulterior origin uncertain. Diez and Littré connect it with brandir to brandish, the former taking it for a deriv. form *brandoler, the latter from brandeler, found in OF. with the senses of both brandir and branler. Cf. brandle, brangle.]
To agitate, toss about, bandy.
| 1654 Jer. Taylor Real Pres. xii. 28 This new question began to branle the words of Type and Antitype. |