| 释义 |
▪ I. † brace, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 5 braas, brace, 6 brache, brase.
[a. F. bras:—L. brāc(c)hium, lit. an arm.]
An arm; esp. an ‘arm’ of the sea or other large body of water. Brace of St. George = med.L. brachium Sancti Georgii (Du Cange): the Bosporus or the Hellespont.
c1400Mandeville xi. 126 He schal..passe the wature, that ys cleped the Brace of seynt George. 1477Caxton Jason 103 b, Guided his boot ouer the braas. 1481― Myrr. ii. iii. 67 That renneth a longe thurgh the Royame of ynde, And departeth in to many armes or braces. 1506Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (1851) 67 Y⊇ sayd streyghtes, otherwyse called the brache of seynt George. c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 142 The stroke..cut asonder a great brase of a benche, that stode before the bedde.
▪ II. brace, n.2|breɪs|
Also 5–7 brase 6–7 brache, 6 bresse, 7 brasse, 9 (dial.) braas.
[Orig. a. OF. brace, brache, brase (fem. sing.) the two arms, esp. the width of the two arms:—L. brāc(c)hia, pl. of brac(c)hium the arm. But senses 7 onwards appear to be chiefly taken from or influenced by certain senses of brace v.1, and might perhaps be better treated as a separate word.]
I. Uses of the general sense ‘pair of arms’.
†1.
a. The portion of a suit of armour covering the arms. (At first ‘a pair of brace’, but afterwards applied to the covering of one arm.) Obs.
c1340Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 582 Wel bornyst brace vpon his boþe armes. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxii, Some..ne wolde fayle To haue of mayle a payre brase. 1483Cath. Angl. 39 A brace, defensorium, brachiale. a1605Montgomerie Poems (1821) 7 On his left arm, ane brace. 1611Cotgr., Bracats, Brasses, or Vambrasses; armor for the armes.
†b. ? A coat of armour. Obs.
1601Shakes. Per. ii. i. 133 ‘It hath been a shield 'Twixt me and death’;—and [he] pointed to this brace.
†c. A state of defence or of preparation for war.
1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 24 Cyprus..stands not in such Warrelike brace.
†2. A measure of length, orig. representing the length of the extended arms; cf. fathom. (The French brasse was 1·62 metres (Littré) = about 64 inches.) Obs.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 211 They haue built a tombe..a brace and an halfe high. 1613Purchas Pilgr. viii. xiv. (1614) 815 This fiery concauity..goes down two hundred and fifty braces or yards. 1710W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. (1727) 399 Giving diversity of Names to their Measures; as the Yard, Ell, Goad, Aulne, Brace.
†3. An embrace; fig. in quot. Obs.
1589Pasquil's Ret. 4 Hee fell into the brace of Rome again.
†4. An arch of a bridge. Cf. span of arch. Obs.
1483Cath. Angl. 39 A Brace of a bryge, or of a vawte; sinus, arcus.
5. Sc. A mantel-shelf. Cf. brace-piece in VI; also window-brace ‘the part of a window on which the sash rests’ (Jamieson).
1806Train Poet. Rev. 101 A dreadfu' knell came on the brace.
6. A carpenter's tool, having a crank handle, and a socket or pad to hold a ‘bit’ for boring.
1567Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) 268, V wombles, iij percers bittes and a brace xxd. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xvii. (ed. 3) 153 Braces for carpenters, with 12 bits. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 128 The joiner when boring with a brace and bit.
II. That which clasps, tightens, secures, connects. Cf. brace v.1 3.
7. a. A clasp, buckle, clamp, or other connecting piece or fastener.
c1440Promp. Parv. 46 Brace of a balke, uncus, loramentum. 1571Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) 362 Onm iij⊇ claspes for collers..iij boxes of bresses ijs vj. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Agraphe, a buckle of a gyrdle, a claspe, a brace. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 177 Some thick collar or brace, so as he [the Fox] can never bite it asunder. 1639Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xlix. §545 marg., The braches bind down and hold fast the dormans to the studs. 1790Cowper Odyss. i. 561 Fasten'd it with bolt and brace secure. 1868G. Stephens Runic Mons. I. 295 This Bronze Brace..has belonged to a Sword-sheath of wood.
b. Dentistry. A wire device for straightening the teeth.
1952News Chron. 8 July, If she wears corrective glasses or braces on her teeth, pretty hair makes her less conscious of her handicaps. 1952M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) iv. 56 They had been routed to the dentist for braces.
†8. The fibula of the leg. A transl. of L. fibula lit. ‘brooch’ or ‘buckle’. Cf. brace-bone in VI.
1656W. Dugard Gate Lat. Unl. §223. 61 The Fibula, or Brace, or lesser focile.
9. A strap bearing a buckle, or otherwise adapted to be drawn tight and fastened:
a. for tightening the joints of armour. (Perh. only a mod. inference from brace v.1)
1852C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) II. iii. 29 His own thrifty hands mended the brace.
b. One of a pair of straps of leather or webbing used to support the trousers; a suspender. (In quot. 1816 with pun on brace n.3; cf. bracer1 1, quot. 1799.)
1798Jane Austen Let. 27 Oct. (1952) 23 There were no narrow braces for children and scarcely any notting silk. 1806J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life I. x. 261 When dressing in violent haste—your braces becoming suddenly..entangled. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master i. 20 It broke, and.. Carried away both stays and braces. 1824Craven Dial. 17 They gee 'em two names, a braas an a gallows. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair iii. (1853) 15, I have embroidered for you a very beautiful pair of braces.
c. A strap serving as a handle (fig. in quot.).
1592Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1843) V. 504 Our faith is the braces or handle whereby we take hold.
10. a. A leathern thong which slides up and down the cord of a drum, and is used to regulate the tension of the skins, and thus the pitch of the note. (cf. brace v.1 4.) †b. Also the cord itself (obs.).
1596Edw. III, ii. ii. 26 Go..hang him in the braces of his drum. a1735Derham (J.) The little bones of the ear-drum do in straining and relaxing it, as the braces of the war-drum do in that. 1880Grove Dict. Mus. I. 466/1 This cord is tightened by means of leather braces. Ibid. 466/2 The heads are tightened by cords and braces.
c. transf. Tension.
a1697Holder (J.) The laxness of the tympanum when it has lost its brace or tension.
11. brace of a coach: one of the stout leathern straps by which the body of a carriage is suspended from the springs.
1720Gay Poems (1745) I. 174 See yon bright chariot on its braces swing. 1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 226 The bodies of Carriages are suspended from the springs by braces.
12. Naut. (See quot. 1850.)
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 100 Braces, straps of iron, copper, or mixed metal, secured with bolts and screws to the stern-post and bottom planks. In their after ends are holes to receive the pintles by which the rudder is hung. 1869E. J. Reed Ship-build. xiii. 247 The rudder was hung to three braces, riveted to the hollow-plate stern-post.
13. A slender bandage or cord fastened round a decoy-bird's body. Cf. brace-bird in VI.
1768Pennant Zool. II. 332 These birds [the decoys] are secured..by what is called a brace.
14. A sign {cb} used in writing or printing, chiefly for the purpose of uniting together two or more lines, words, staves of music, etc. Sometimes, but less correctly, used in plural to denote square brackets [ ].
1656Blount Glossogr. s.v., With Printers a Brace is that which couples two or more words together. 1806J. W. Callcott Mus. Gram. i. 3 When a Staff is wanted for each hand they are joined together by a Brace. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. I. 413 A Brace {cb} is used in poetry at the end of a triplet. 1841J. R. Young Math. Dissert. iii. 129 The first term within the braces. 1880Muirhead Gaius Introd. 12, I have had recourse to..braces [ ] and marks of parenthesis.
III. 15. Two things taken together; a pair, a couple. Often a mere synonym for two, as, in cricketing language ‘A hit B for a brace’; see c.
In this sense the plural is also brace, as in two or three brace, several brace.
a. orig. of dogs. (Perhaps the band or cord with which dogs were coupled in coursing was called a brace; cf. sense 13 and leash.)
1430Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi, This ylke lease of thre..All sodeynly was tourned to a brase. c1440Promp. Parv. 46 Brace of howndys. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. v. 129 Edward and Richard like a brace of Grey-hounds..Are at our backes. 1602Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 226 Sir Vaugh. I indited a brace or two more. Asi. He makes hounds of us..a brace quoth a? 1816Scott Bl. Dwarf ii. 15 He summoned to his side the brace of large greyhounds.
b. of other animals, esp. certain kinds of game.
1570Levins Manip. 6 A Brace of Deere, duo damae. 1651Fuller Abel Rediv. Erasmus (1867) I. 83 Hammond and Urswick sent him a brace of geldings. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5371/4 A brace of Trouts. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. i. 317 A Brace or Leash of Live Partridges. 1851Kingsley Bad Squire 28 A few more brace of game. 1867F. Francis Angling v. (1880) 178, I rose and hooked six brace of capital fish.
c. of things. (More correctly when united or paired, as in a brace of pistols.) a brace of shakes: see shake n.1 2 h. Hence in Cricket: a brace (of ducks), a score of nought in both innings of a match; to bag a brace, to score nought in both innings.
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 75 Their Parents owe a brase of hunndred pounds more than they are worth. 1630M. Godwyn Annales England 232 Robert Ket..had gathered a fortune of a brace of thousands. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. vii. 167 Borrowing of thy neighbour a brace of chambers for a night. 1719Defoe Crusoe 200 The two Muskets I loaded with a Brace of Slugs each. 1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6372/3 Shot through the Left Arm with a Brace of Bullets. 1755Mrs. C. Charke Life 45 A heavy Blunderbuss, a Muscatoon, and two Brace of Pistols. 1832H. Martineau Ireland v. 85 Three brace of pistols. 1867J. Lillywhite's Cricketers' Compan. 57 Tom Humphrey achieved the feat of ‘bagging a brace’. 1891W. G. Grace Cricket xi. 329 In 1868, he got me out for a brace of ‘ducks’ at Neath. 1903P. F. Warner in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket xiv. 398 More than one well-known cricketer has ‘bagged a brace’ there. 1912A. A. Lilley Twenty-four Years Cricket v. 65 Noble and Gregory..were thus dismissed for a ‘brace’. 1929Chicago Sunday Trib. 25 Aug. i. 3/7 They found Edward Barnett..and his brother..sleeping with a brace of automatics under their pillows.
d. of persons. (Chiefly with a touch of humour or contempt.)
1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. xci. (1612) 370 Clargie-men..Pluralitie that huddle, haue also their brace of wiues. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. ii. §84 I. 213 A brace of Brethren, both Bishops. 1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man iii. i, I'll undertake to set down a brace of dukes. 1847Tennyson Princ. v. 453 A lusty brace of twins may weed her of her folly. 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xix. 483 Thorough specimens of a brace of vulgar demagogues.
IV. That which imparts rigidity or steadiness; cf. brace v.1 6.
16. A strip or band of metal used for support, e.g. in mounting bells.
1730Churchw. Accts. Holy Cross, Canterb., Casting All y⊇ braces for y⊇ bells. 1880Grove Dict. Mus. I. 219/2 Bells..are first carefully secured by iron bolts and braces. 1885Manch. Exam. 21 July 6/5 The pieces of copper were furnished..with iron braces, intended to give them rigidity.
17. a. Building and Mech. A timber or scantling used in a roof or other trussed framework to stiffen the assemblage of pieces composing it; a piece of timber or iron used to strengthen the framework of a vessel, bridge, pier, etc.; a stay used to steady a printing press.
1530Palsgr. 200/2 Brace of an house, brace. 1616Bullokar, Braces, In building it signifieth the peeces of timber which bend forward on both sides and beare up the rafters. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 141 The Quarters and Braces between the principal Posts..are fitted in. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 155 To keep the timbers from descending, two braces are introduced. 1838F. Simms Public Wks. Gt. Brit. ii. 25 Diagonal braces of cast iron. 1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 395/2 A method of counteracting the arching of a ship by braces of iron. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. 127 Braces are plates of iron..used to bind efficiently a weakness in a vessel.
b. In the theatre, a rod or length of timber used to brace a flat.
1866W. Davidge Footlight Flashes xv. 151 They are called braces, and are used for sustaining the weight of cottages, trees, and set pieces of all kinds. 1941N. Coward Australia Visited vii. 46 The actors stumble around..making believe that a few chairs, braces, and empty sugar-boxes are the palace of a King.
V. Technical uses of obscure origin.
18. in Mining.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Brace, the mouth of a shaft.
19. in Agriculture.
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 119 Near the point of the share, a comb or brace rises, and..is inserted about midway in the perpendicular bar.
VI.
20. Comb. and attrib., as brace-button, braces-maker; also brace-bird, a decoy-bird secured by a brace (see 13); † brace-bone, the fibula; brace-drill, a boring tool shaped like a brace; brace-head, -key, an attachment at the top of a column of boring-rods, by means of which these are turned; brace-piece, Sc., a mantel-piece; brace-rod, a connecting rod used to support or give rigidity to any part of a structure; brace-shot U.S. = bracket n. 5 b.
1885Pall Mall G. 10 Oct. 4/2 The *brace bird is generally a goldfinch.
1634T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xv. ii. (1678) 327 The *brace-bone serves for the sustaining of the muscles, and not of the body as the leg-bone doth.
1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 439 The *brace-head, or cross-head, with the four handles held by the borers.
1836Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 149/2 A retired glove and *braces maker.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 428 In this plough..there is usually applied a *brace-rod V. 1907Westm. Gaz. 27 Dec. 4/2 On a special collar of the enclosed propeller-shaft are two brace-rods, extending triangular fashion to the sleeves of the live axle. 1914R. H. Davis With the Allies (1915) 134 To find the range the artillery sends what in the American army are called *brace shots.
▪ III. brace, n.3 Naut.|breɪs|
Also 7 brase.
[a. F. bras (de vergue) of same meaning (lit. ‘arm’); assimilated to brace n.2 It is less probable that Fr. bras in this sense is an adaptation of the Eng. word, which would then be a special application of brace n.2 II.]
A rope attached to the yard of a vessel for the purpose of ‘trimming’ the sail.
1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 28 Ease your mayne brases. 1762Falconer Shipwr. ii. note, The lee-brace confines the yard so that the tack will not come down to its place. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast v. 10 We were obliged to steady the booms and yards by guys and braces.
b. attrib., as in brace-block, brace-man, brace-pendant.
c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 49 Brace men attend their braces. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. 127 Brace pendants are lengths of rope, or..chain, into which the yard-arm brace-blocks are spliced.
▪ IV. brace, v.1|breɪs|
Also 4–7 bras(e, 6 brais(s, 7 breace.
[ad. OF. bracie-r to embrace, f. brace the two arms; but some of the senses are taken directly from those of brace n.2 q.v.]
†1. trans. To put the arms round, embrace. Obs.
c1375? Barbour St. Thomas 135 In armys cane brase þame bath. c1430Syr Gener. 3324 In his armes he can hir brace. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 1578 A baby to brace and to basse. 1570Levins Manip. 6 To Brace, amplecti.
2. To encompass, surround, gird, encircle; also, causally, to put round, make to surround. (Now usually with some notion of 3 combined.)
1513Douglas æneis ix. vi. 140 Euryll..hes this jowell [a girdle] hynt, About his sydis it brasing. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 124 Bigge Bulles of Basan brace hem about. 1782Cowper Gilpin 122 He seem'd to carry weight, With leathern girdle braced. 1835Aird Chr. Bride i. v, A flowing wood the middle mountain braced.
3. To clasp, fasten up tightly, gird: sometimes with a reference to one or other of the senses of brace n.2
c1325Coer de L. 5649 Anon did hote Faste that men scholde it brace. a1400Morte Arth. 1182 Stryke of his hevede..brace it in yryne, And sett it on the barbycane. 1530Lyndesay Papyngo 938 They haue ane Boumbard, braissit vp in bandis. 1562Leigh Armorie (1597) 10 b, A Souldior.. caused his man to brace him in a male. 1695Blackmore Pr. Arth. iv. 566 He ne'er before had brac'd the Helmet on. 1725Pope Odyss. x. 19 The adverse winds in leathern bags he brac'd. 1810Crabbe Borough v. Wks. 1834 III. 105 His short stout person he is wont to brace In good brown broad-cloth. 1870Bryant Iliad viii. I. 255, I brace my armor on for war.
4. To make tight or tense; to stretch, strain (esp. the skin of a drum). Cf. brace n.2 10.
c1440Promp. Parv. 46 Bracyn, or sette streyte, tendo. 1595Shakes. John v. ii. 169 A drumme is readie brac'd, That shall reuerberate all, as lowd as thine. 1730Swift Panegyr. Dean Wks. 1755 IV. i. 142 Then gluttony..Brac'd like a drum her oily skin. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. III. 443 Bracing the back of the bow with a kind of thread. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. iii. (1827) 445 In a drum the pelt is carried over a hoop, and braced as occasion requires.
5. a. To ‘string up’ (nerves, sinews, etc.), give firmness or tone to. So also to brace up.
1736Gray Let. in Poems (1775) 9 His vigorous arm he try'd..Brac'd all his nerves, and every sinew strung. 1740Cheyne Regimen 66 Medicines, to brace and wind up the Stomach. c1750Shenstone Elegies ix. 14 They gave you toils, but toils your sinews brace. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. I. iii. 40 Would to Heaven his nerves had been as braced up as his face. 1879C. Rossetti Seek & F. 56 Winter which nips can also brace.
b. fig. Also refl. to brace oneself (cf. to gird oneself); also to brace one's heart, energies, etc., in sense of summoning up resolution for a task. Also freq. with up.
a1500Chaucer Poem in Todd Illustr. 299 Arysyng full lyghtely my sylfe did brase. 1805Wordsw. Prel. i. (1850) 8 An earnest longing rose To brace myself to some determined aim. 1816Jane Austen Emma I. vii. 113 It was..necessary to brace her up with a few decisive expressions. 1836Thirlwall Greece II. xv. 306 Nothing now remained but to brace every nerve for the battle. 1876Green Short Hist. i. §4. 39 Under Offa Mercia first really braced herself to the completion of her British conquests. 1887M. Corelli Thelma i. xvii, He paused—then suddenly bracing himself up, added [etc.]. 1891Hardy Group of Noble Dames ix. 230 It gave him an opportunity to brace himself up. 1903‘No. 7’ 25 Years in 17 Prisons xii. 125 When I heard the words ‘sad news’..I braced myself up, clenched my teeth..and prepared to hear the worst.
c. intr. to brace up: to brace oneself; to pull oneself together for an effort; also, to take a drink for this purpose. orig. U.S.
1809Deb. Congress 20 Jan. 1148 We have been..bracing up; we have had plenty of good wine. 1817S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 354 If the stomach be foul..take an emetic, and then brace up with bark. 1845C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 62 He braces up for the occasion. a1910‘Mark Twain’ Myst. Stranger (1916) 130 All that was needed..was that Wilhelm should brace up and do something that should cause favorable talk. 1958M. Dickens Man Overboard ix. 145 Don't make a scene, Mum... Brace up.
6. a. To render firm or steady by binding tightly.
1785Cowper Task i. 41 A lattice-work, that braced The new machine, and it became a chair. 1803Wellington in Gurw. Disp. I. 488 The spring lines are then lashed diagonally from one boat to the other to brace them tight. 1870Rolleston Anim. Life 144 They are braced by ligaments.
b. More generally: To fix, render firm, set rigidly or firmly down. Also fig.
1849Thoreau Week Concord Riv. Thursd. 315 With their fore feet braced, they sustained the rushing torrent in their rear. 1873Holland A. Bonnic. xiii. 222 Braced by them as I was, Mr. Mullens made no headway against me. 1876G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto ix. 98 He braced his foot in the stirrup to afford a purchase for her ascent.
7. To join firmly, couple together.
1826E. Irving Babylon I. iii. 210 Which event is again braced to the former parts of the book.
▪ V. † brace, v.2 Obs.
Also 6 brase.
[prob. a use of brace v.1 (see esp. sense 5): but cf. also OF. braçoier to swing the arms about (as a sign of pride; cf. quot. in Godef. ‘Orgueus va des bras brachoiant, Des espaules espauloiant’).]
To bluster, domineer; to assume a defiant attitude; chiefly in phrase to face and brace.
1447–8J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 23 He can..braule, bragge and brace, lye and swere well to. a1529Skelton Agst. Scottes 33 Such boste make To face and brace All voyd of Grace. 1549Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 152 Men..woulde face it and brace it and make a shewe of vpryght dealynge. a1563Becon Fortr. Faithf. (1844) 599 They gripe, they nip, they face, they brase, they semble..to maintain and set forth their unnoble nobility.
▪ VI. brace, v.3 Naut.|breɪs|
Also 7 breace.
[ad. F. brasser (also brasseyer), of same meaning; or f. brace n.3]
trans. To move or turn (a sail) by means of braces. Hence, with various adverbs and prepositions, as brace aback, to draw (the yards) in, so as to lay the sails aback; brace about, brace abox (see quots.); brace by, to brace (the yards) in contrary directions on the different masts; brace in, to lay (the yards) less obliquely athwartships; brace round = brace about; brace sharp (see quot.); brace to, to ease the lee- and draw in (the weather-braces) so as to assist in tacking; brace up, to put (the yards) into a more oblique position. Also absol. in prec. uses.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 16 Breace the Foresail..to the Mast. 1675Lond. Gaz. No. 3073/3 He Braced to and fell a-stern. 1762Falconer Shipwr. ii. 908 Brace the foremost yards aback. 1769― Dict. Marine (1789) Brasser sous le vent, to brace to leeward, or brace-up the yards. 1832Marryat N. Forster xi, The yards [were] braced by. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xxii. 66 Her yards were braced sharp up. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 127 To brace about, to turn the yards round for the contrary tack. To brace abox, a manœuvre to insure casting the right way, by bracing the head-yards flat aback (not square). To brace sharp, to cause the yards to have the smallest possible angle with the keel, for the ship to have head-way.
b. transf. (humorous.)
1834M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 34 We braced up sharp round a right-angled corner of our pestiferous path.
▪ VII. brace, a. U.S. slang.
[? attrib. use of brace n.2]
brace game, a game in which there is concerted cheating; brace box, in faro, a dealing box designed to facilitate cheating.
1875Chicago Tribune 25 Aug. 8/1 The brace game flourishes..to cheat the gambling fraternity. 1908S. E. White Riverman vi. 58 ‘I tell you, you can't win!’ cried Newmark disgustedly. ‘It's a brace game pure and simple.’ 1908G. H. Lorimer J. Spurlock vi. 116 Life's not even a gamble in this age of commercialism, fo' Fo'tune deals from a brace box.
▪ VIII. brace
variant of braze v. Obs. |