/bɹænd/
OriginFrom Middle English brand, from Old English brand (“fire; flame; burning; torch; sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“flame; flaming; fire-brand; torch; sword”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to bubble forth; brew; spew forth; burn”).
Cognate with Scots brand, West Frisian brân (“fire”), Dutch brand, German Brand, Danish brand, Swedish brand (“blaze, fire”), Icelandic brandur, French brand (< Germanic). More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *gorěti (“to burn”).
- A mark or scar made by burning with a hot iron, especially to mark cattle or to classify the contents of a cask.
““Well, in the first place, every cattleman has to have a brand to identify his stock. Without it no cattleman, nor half a hundred cowboys, if he had so many, could ever recognize all the cattle in a b”
“The indelible word "homosexual," like a brand that grew deeper and redder every day, became increasingly hard to conceal and to ignore.”
- A branding iron.
- The symbolic identity, represented by a name and/or a logo, which indicates a certain product or service to the public.
“The Amtrak brand revitalization approach represents one of the most ambitious, comprehensive, and systematic experiential marketing approaches I have ever seen.”
“In this way, every Citibanker becomes a brand manager and an ambassador of the Citibank brand. ... Indeed, the Citibank brand will "never sleep"”
“Mr. Lundgren claimed that Federated had conducted a focus group and the analysis showed that most people were either indifferent to the name change or preferred the Macy's brand.”
- A specific product, service, or provider so distinguished.
“Some brands of breakfast cereal contain a lot of sugar.”
- broadlyAny specific type or variety of something; a distinct style or manner.
“I didn’t appreciate his particular brand of flattery.”
“New Orleans brand sausage; Danish brand ham”
“[O]ne minute this "Jihadi John" was struggling to get by, and get accepted, in drizzly England, unemployed with a mortgage to pay and a chip on his shoulder, and the next he stands in brilliant Levant”
- The public image or reputation and recognized, typical style of an individual or group.
“The Obama brand had taken a hit two months earlier, when he campaigned for Creigh Deeds in Virginia and Jon Corzine in New Jersey, only to see them both lose.”
“Her brand is edgy, cosmopolitan, and out-of-the-box, so blogging is the perfect, ever-changing match for her.”
“He unplugged my umbilical cord to take a leisurely swig, smirking, watching me turn blue before giving it back. My cardiologist told me that was impossible, but I'm still convinced. That's very on-bra”
- A mark of infamy; stigma.
- Any minute fungus producing a burnt appearance in plants.
- Northern-England, ScotlandA torch used for signaling.
- obsolete, rareA flame.
“Goe to prepare the maryages what neede the torchis light? be holde the towres of troy do shyne with brandes that blase full bright.”
“Is yet againe thy brest enflamde, / with brande of venus might”
- obsolete, rareA conflagration.
- archaic, poeticA piece of burning wood or peat, or a glowing cinder.
“to burn something to brands and ashes”
“The fearful brands and bleezes of het fire.”
“1859-1890, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England to the Revolutionary War
Snatching a live brand from a wigwam, Mason threw it on a matted roof.”
- archaicA sword.
“Paradise, so late their happy seat, / Waved over by that flaming brand.”
“The shattering trumpet shrilleth high, / The hard brands shiver on the steel, / The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly, / The horse and rider reel: […]”
- transitiveTo burn the flesh with a hot iron, either as a marker (for criminals, slaves etc.) or to cauterise a wound.
“When they caught him, he was branded and then locked up.”
“Man's flesh they eat: their own they paint and sear, / branding with burning iron, — usage fere!”
- transitiveTo mark (especially cattle) with a brand as proof of ownership.
“The ranch hands had to brand every new calf by lunchtime.”
“A maverick is an unbranded calf that has been weaned and shifts for itself. The maverick then belongs to the man who finds it and brands it.”
- transitiveTo make an indelible impression on the memory or senses.
“Her face is branded upon my memory.”
- transitiveTo stigmatize, label (someone).
“He was branded a fool by everyone that heard his story.”
“I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murde”
“As Ferguson strode briskly towards the Stretford End at the final whistle, he will have been reflecting on the extent of the challenge now facing him from the club he once branded "noisy neighbours".”
- transitiveTo associate a product or service with a trademark or other name and related images.
“They branded the new detergent "Suds-O", with a nature scene inside a green O on the muted-colored recycled-cardboard box.”
- intransitiveTo be very hot, to burn.
“O, not for thee the glow, the bloom,
Who changest not in any gale,
Nor branding summer suns avail
To touch thy thousand years of gloom: […]”
- countable, uncountableA surname.
- countable, uncountableA municipality in Bludenz district, Vorarlberg, Austria.
- countable, uncountableA municipality in Tirschenreuth district, Bavaria, Germany.
- countable, uncountableA borough of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
- countable, uncountableA hamlet in Beekdaelen municipality, Limburg province, Netherlands.
Formsbrands(plural) · brands(present, singular, third-person) · branding(participle, present) · branded(participle, past) · branded(past) · Brands(plural)