brail

brail (BRAYL) - (naut.) n., any of several small ropes attached to the leech (edge) or the corner of a sail for drawing the sail in or up prior to furling it. v., to gather in (a sail) using the brails, usu. in the phrase "brail up."


Plus some secondary meanings, such as similar line attached to a net for hauling in, a dipping net used to empty a larger net, and a leather strap for binding a hawk's wings, and verbs for using each of those, but I'm ignoring those as the meaning I met in Hornblower is the one above. This was spelled variously brayle and braile in Middle English, from Anglo-Norman braiel, belt/strap as well as brail, from Old French braiuel, belt, Medieval Latin brācāle/brācale, breechbelt/girdle, from Latin brācae, breeches/pants, which is probably from Gaulish, and thus from the Proto-Germanic root *brāks/*brōks, rump/hindquarters/leggings/trousers, from PIE *bʰreg-, to break/crack/split. So, like, are breeches named after the butt-crack or the split leggings?


And that ends a week of 5x5s. Next week, a short one due to the Stateside holidays, will of course be the usual mix.

---L.