Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Brand?

\Brand\, n. [OE. brand, brond, AS. brand brond brand, sword, from byrnan, beornan, to burn; akin to D., Dan., Sw., & G. brand brand, Icel. brandr a brand, blade of a sword. [root]32. See {Burn}, v. t., and cf. {Brandish}.] 1. A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt, whether burning or after the fire is extinct. Snatching a live brand from a wigwam, Mason threw it on a matted roof. --Palfrey. 2. A sword, so called from its glittering or flashing brightness. [Poetic] --Tennyson. Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand. --Milton. 3. A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a cask, to designate the quality, manufacturer, etc., of the contents, or upon an animal, to designate ownership; -- also, a mark for a similar purpose made in any other way, as with a stencil. Hence, figurately: Quality; kind; grade; as, a good brand of flour. 4. A mark put upon criminals with a hot iron. Hence: Any mark of infamy or vice; a stigma. The brand of private vice. --Channing. 5. An instrument to brand with; a branding iron. 6. (Bot.) Any minute fungus which produces a burnt appearance in plants. The brands are of many species and several genera of the order {Puccini[ae]i}.
\Brand\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Branded}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Branding}.]. 1. To burn a distinctive mark into or upon with a hot iron, to indicate quality, ownership, etc., or to mark as infamous (as a convict). 2. To put an actual distinctive mark upon in any other way, as with a stencil, to show quality of contents, name of manufacture, etc. 3. Fig.: To fix a mark of infamy, or a stigma, upon. The Inquisition branded its victims with infamy. --Prescott. There were the enormities, branded and condemned by the first and most natural verdict of common humanity. --South. 4. To mark or impress indelibly, as with a hot iron. As if it were branded on my mind. --Geo. Eliot.