/bɹʊk/, /bɹʉk/, /bɹuːk/
OriginFrom Middle English brouken (“to use, enjoy”), from Old English brūcan (“to enjoy, brook, use, possess, partake of, spend”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūkan, from Proto-Germanic *brūkaną (“to enjoy, use”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to enjoy”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian bruke (“to need”), Dutch bruiken (“to use”), German Low German bruken (“to need”), German brauchen (“to need”), Swedish bruka (“to use”), Icelandic brúka (“to use”).
- formal, transitiveTo bear; endure; support; put up with; tolerate.
“brook no refusal”
“I will not brook any disobedience.”
“I will brook no impertinence.”
- Scotland, transitiveTo enjoy the use of; make use of; profit by; to use, enjoy, possess, or hold.
“Yea, my Lord: how brooks your Grace the ayre, / After your late toſſing on the breaking Seas?”
“The girl’s spirit would brook a husband under no such conditions: she was not minded to run forward because Pen chose to hold out the handkerchief, and her tone, in reply to Arthur, showed her determi”
- obsolete, transitiveTo earn; deserve.
- Northeastern, USA body of running water smaller than a river; a small stream.
“empties itself, as doth an inland brook / into the main of waters”
“The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water.”
“But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of th”
- KentA water meadow.
- Kent, in-pluralLow, marshy ground.
- A habitational surname from Middle English for someone living by a brook.
- A surname from Hebrew, a transliteration and normalization of Hebrew ברך (barúkh, “blessed”).
- A male given name transferred from the surname, variant of Brooks.
- A female given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage, variant of Brooke.
- A town in Newton County, Indiana, United States.
- A hamlet in Tedburn St Mary parish, Teignbridge district, Devon, divided into Higher and Lower Brook (OS grid ref SX8091).
- A hamlet in Tavistock parish, West Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref SX4772).
- A hamlet in Bramshaw parish, New Forest district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU2714).
- A hamlet in King's Somborne parish, Test Valley district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU3428).
- A village in Brighstone parish, Isle of Wight (OS grid ref SZ3983).
- A village and civil parish in Ashford borough, Kent (OS grid ref TR0644).
- A hamlet in Albury parish, Guildford borough, Surrey (OS grid ref TQ0646).
- A hamlet in Witley parish, Waverley borough, Surrey (OS grid ref SU9338).
- A hamlet in Llanddowror community, Carmarthenshire, Wales (OS grid ref SN2609).
Formsbrooks(present, singular, third-person) · brooking(participle, present) · brooked(participle, past) · brooked(past) · brooks(plural) · Brooke(alternative) · Brooks(alternative)