brawl

A brawl depicted in Bauernrauferei beim Kartenspiel (Smallholders Playing Cards, c. 1630–1640) by Adriaen Brouwer[n 1]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɹɔːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɹɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɹɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl

The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”);[1] further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative.[2] It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)).[3]

The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.[4]

brawl (plural brawls)

1. A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.

   Synonyms: row, scuffle, squabble; see also Thesaurus:dispute, Thesaurus:fight

   • c. 1591–1595, [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: Printed by Iohn Danter, published 1597, OCLC 503903918, [Act I, scene i]:

     Three Ciuell brawles bred of an airie word, / By the old Capulet and Mountague, / Haue thrice diſturbd the quiet of our ſtreets.

   • 1874 December 18, John M. Shirley, state reporter, “State v. Rollins”, in Reports of Cases in the Superior Court of Judicature of New Hampshire, volume LV, Concord, N.H.: Published by Josiah B. Sanborn, published 1876, OCLC 11478040, page 102:

     The complaint charged that the defendants, on, etc., at, etc., "in a certain public place, to wit, in a certain school-house in which a singing-school was then and there being held, did make a great brawl and tumult, and stamped their feet on the floor, hissed, used loud and saucy language, and were guilty of rude, indecent, and disorderly conduct."

   • 1940 June 21, “Further Statement of Thad H. Brown, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, Washington, D.C.”, in Nomination of Thad H. Brown: Hearings before the Committee on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Seventy-sixth Congress, Third Session on the Nomination of Thad H. Brown on Reappointment as Federal Communications Commissioner […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, OCLC 4200122, page 81:

     It has been reported that an entertainment took place not long ago in a certain "hot spot" in New York City, and it has been charged that members of the Federal Communications Commission were present; that they got into a drunken brawl; and in the brawl some woman was hurt, her arm twisted.

   • 2017 January 26, Christopher D. Shea, “‘T2 Trainspotting’: The early reviews”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, ISSN 0362-4331, OCLC 971436363, archived from the original on 21 February 2018:

     Robert Carlyle appears as Begbie, who starts brawls with almost anyone who crosses his path; […]

• brawly

brawl (third-person singular simple present brawls, present participle brawling, simple past and past participle brawled)

1. (intransitive) To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel.

   Synonyms: squabble, wrangle

   • c. 1593, [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: Printed by Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, OCLC 55191490, [Act I, scene iii]:

     I doe the wrong, and firſt began to braule / The ſecret miſchiefes that I ſet abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: […]

     I do the wrong, and am the first to begin to quarrel. / The secret mischiefs that I set afoot, / I blame on others: […]

   • 1998 July 2, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter; 2), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 63:

     Brilly and Flintlock brawled in potions class, then they brawled on the soccer field, and finally they brawled sitting in the principal's office.

2. (intransitive) To create a disturbance; to complain loudly.
3. (intransitive) Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise.
   • c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], page 190, column 1:

     To day my Lord of Amiens, and my ſelfe, / Did ſteale behinde him as he lay along / Vnder an oake, whoſe anticke roote peepes out / Vpon the brooke that brawles along this wood, […]

   • 1793, W[illiam] Wordsworth, An Evening Walk. An Epistle; in Verse. […], London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 520414306; republished as “The Female Beggar. From Wordsworth’s Evening Walk.”, in The Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany, volume III (New Series), Edinburgh: Printed for James Symington […] and sold in London by H. Murray […], and W. Boag […], May 1794, OCLC 221359700, page 387, column 1:

     ―When low-hung clouds each ſtar of ſummer hide, / And fireleſs are the valleys far and wide, / Where the brook brawls along the painful road, / Dark with bat haunted aſhes ſtretching broad, […]

4. (transitive) To pour abuse on; to scold.

• brawler
• brawling (noun)

Possibly from French branler (“to shake”),[5] from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”), from brand, branc (“blade of a sword”), from Vulgar Latin *brandus (“firebrand; flaming sword; sword”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to burn”).

brawl (third-person singular simple present brawls, present participle brawling, simple past and past participle brawled)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To move to and fro, to quiver, to shake.

   Synonyms: vibrate, waver

From French branle (“type of dance; an act of shaking, a shake”), from branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”);[6] see further at etymology 2.

Alternatively, the word could be derived from brawl (“(obsolete) to move to and fro, quiver, shake”): see etymology 2.[6]

brawl (plural brawls)

1. (dance, obsolete) A type of dance move or step.
2. (dance, music, obsolete) Alternative form of branle (“dance of French origin dating from the 16th century, performed by couples in a circle or a line; the music for this dance”)
   • c. 1595–1596, W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), imprinted in London: By W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, OCLC 61366361, [Act III, scene i]:

     Boy. Maiſter, will you win your loue with a french braule? / Brag[gart]. How meaneſt thou? brawling in French. / Boy. No my complet Maiſter, but to Iigge off a tune at the tongues ende, canarie to it with your feete, humour it with turning vp your eylids, ſigh a note and ſing a note ſomtime through the throate, if you ſwallowed loue with ſinging loue […]