brad
nounverbnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//bɹad//
- United States//bɹæd//
A thin, small nail, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head, or occasionally with a small domed head, similar to that of an escutcheon pin.
noun
- 1
A thin, small nail, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head, or occasionally with a small domed head, similar to that of an escutcheon pin.
Into the middle arch of each desk silver-headed brads had been hammered to form a lion, a bear, a ram, a dove, and in the midst a flaming torch.
- 2
A paper fastener, a fastening device formed of thin, soft metal, such as shim brass, with a round head and a flat, split shank, which is spread after insertion in a hole in a stack of pages, in much the same way as a cotter pin or a split rivet.
Etymology
Late Middle English brad, variant of brod(d), from Old Norse broddr (“spike, shaft”), from Proto-Germanic *bruzdaz (compare Old English brord, Old High German brort), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrusdʰos (compare Welsh brath (“sting, prick”), Albanian bredh (“fir-tree”), Lithuanian bruzdùklis (“bridle”), Czech brzda (“brake”). Doublet of prod.
verb
- 1
To attach using a brad.
- 2
To upset the end of a rod inserted in a hole so as to prevent it from being pulled out, as when riveting.
noun
- 1
A binary radian.
Forms
- plural
- brads
- past tense
- bradded
- past participle
- bradded
- present participle
- bradding
- third person singular
- brads
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