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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BREE, n.3 See Broo, n.2, 1. [bri:]

1. The eyebrow, in phr. to move neither ee (eye) nor bree, to remain absolutely motionless.n.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
“Ee nor bree,” is still a proverbial phrase. “He moved neither ee nor bree ony mair than he had been dead.”
Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 67:
Now they conclude, that here their truff maun be, An' lay stane still, not mooving eye nor bree.
Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas, etc. 32:
[I'll] ne'er move e'e nor bree' [sic].

2. The brow, forehead (Fif.1 1935).Sc. after 1715 White Cockade in Jacobite Minstrelsy (1829) 111:
But aye the thing that blinds my e'e Is the white cockade aboon the bree.
Sc. 1887 R. L. Stevenson Underwoods 127:
An' whiles the bluid spangs to my bree, To lie sae saft, to live sae free.
Sc. 1930 J. G. Horne in Glasgow Herald (4 Feb.) 8/9:
Reid as the tod an' shaggëd to the bree, Bauchlt an' barefit, deil-ma-care an' free.
Per. a.1860 W. Wilson in Harp of Perthsh. (ed. Ford 1893) 164:
Wi' bonnet sae vaunty, an' owerlay sae clean, An' ribbon that waved 'boon his bree.
Ayr. 1845 J. Cameron in Ayrshire Wreath (ed. R. Crawford) 138:
A bonnie Ayrshire lassie's bree.

3. The rim or upper edge of anything, in quot. of a mill-trough. Ags. 1795 Session Papers, Arbuthnott v. Scott (11 March) 267:
It is simply impossible that the wheel can strike the bree, the breast, and the bottom of the pot.

4. The top or ribbed edge of a sock or stocking. Inv. 1949:
I don't want the plain stocking, I want them with brees.

[O.Sc. bre, bree, brie, an eyebrow (D.O.S.T.), O.N. brā, eye-lid, O.E. (Anglian) brēg, West Saxon bræ̂w, brēaw, brēag, eye-lid (Sweet), whence Mid.Eng. brēu (Stratmann). Cogn. O.H.Ger. brâwa, brâa, brâ, eye-lash. See N.E.D. s.v. bree, n.1 Cf. Breers.]

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"Bree n.3". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/bree_n3>

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