释义 |
▪ I. bracer1|ˈbreɪsə(r)| [f. as prec. + -er1.] 1. That which clamps, binds, etc.; a cincture, bandage, brace; † also a pair of braces (obs.).
1579J. Jones Preserv. Body and Soul i. xix. 34 Vsing instruments..as Brasers, Wastes, or bodies, made eyther of paper bordes, plate, or Cardes, etc. to make them slender. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 11 Bindings, knees, boults, trunions, brasers. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphit. 213 By reason of the Concatenation of the Stones and Iron Bracers. 1799Specif. J. Foster's Patent No. 2361 Making a bracer or sling for..keeping up breeches. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. viii. lx. 543 The chest..was made heavy by ornamental bracers and handles. †2. ? The ‘enarme’ or strap for holding the buckler on the arm. Obs. rare—1. (But cf. next word.)
1612Beaum. & Fl. Cupid's Rev. iv. 419 Take down my Buckler..and fetch a nail or two: and tack on bracers. 3. That which braces (the nerves); hence a tonic medicine (a common sense in 18th c., now obs.). spec. A drink taken to brace one up (colloq., orig. U.S.).
1740Cheyne Regimen p. ix, Bark, Bitters and Steel, and such Astringents and Bracers. 1826Scott in Lockhart (1839) VIII. 204 Adversity is to me a tonic and a bracer. 1829Savannah (Ga.) Mercury 1 July (Th.), If I take..a cooler at nine, a bracer at ten, a whetter at eleven,..who has a right to complain? 1830Fraser's Mag. I. 182 As a bracer to the nerves, [I] slipped into the provision-basket a handful of..bottles. 1877J. Habberton Jericho Road 12 Treat him to whisky; he needs a bracer. 1924Wodehouse Bill the Conq. xx. 288 He took some worms and slipped them a stiff bracer. 1951M. Kennedy Lucy Carmichael ii. iii. 113 We're all going into the Swan for a bracer... Do come..and have a drink before your drive back. ▪ II. ˈbracer2 Forms: 4–6 braser, 5 bracere (in Cath. Angl.), brassure, 6 bracher, 6–7 brasar, 7 bracert, brasser, 4– bracer. [a. OF. brasseüre (L. type *bracchiātūra, f. bracchium arm); influenced by the synon. Fr. brassard, and by analogy of -er: cf. bordure, border.] The portion of a suit of armour covering the arm. Also a sort of guard for the wrist used in archery, in fencing, and in playing games at ball.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 111 Vp on his arm he baar a gay bracer. a1400Morte Arth. 1859 Brasers burnyste bristez in sondyre. 1544R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 108 A bracer serueth..to saue his arm from the strype of the strynge. Ibid. (1654) 146, I sawe a man whyche vsed a brasar on his cheke. 1570Levins Manip. 72 A Bracher, brachiale. 1611Markham Countr. Content. i. viii. (1668) 47 A mans Arm arm'd in a bracer of wood. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 31 His arrow head he quickly maketh with a little bone, which he ever weareth at his bracert. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. iv. 259 Presented him with a helmet, bracers & bracelets all of gold. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. iii. 89 A round hollow bracer of wood to cover the hand and lower part of the arm, with which he struck the ball. 1886Wood Man & Handiwork 241 Modern archers possess..a sort of gauntlet called a bracer. |