28 May 2006

brandon. Obs. rare. Also brandom.

brandon. Obs. rare. Also brandom. (a. F. brandon burning wisp of straw, etc.: com. Romanic: - L. type *brandon-em, f. Teut. brand, burning)

1. A torch. lit. and fig. (frequent in Drummond) a. 1649 Drumm. of Hawth. Shadow of Judgm., Her right hand swings a brandon in the air. -- Poems 14, His [Cupid's] Darts... all for nought starve as doth his Brandom.
2. A kind of French rustic dance (see Littre) 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 175 The Brandons were celebrated in many cities in France the first Sunday of Lent, round bon fires of straw, whence they had their name.


-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.

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