brook meaning (formal): definition, etymology and quotations

brook

verb

AU, US, UK /bɹʊk/ · UK /bɹɵk/

Etymology From 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, In the negative To bear; endure; support; put up with; tolerate.

brook no refusal
I will not brook any disobedience.

4 more examples

I will brook no impertinence.
how shall I brook to be the first cause of difference between a father and son, to whom the averted look and the harsh word have been hitherto unknown?1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 22:
But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
After delivering the reply he ordered the annalists, who have charge of the knots, to take note of it and include it in their tradition. By now the Spaniards, who were unable to brook the length of the discourse, had left their places and fallen on the Indians1966, Garcilaso de la Vega, H. V. Livermore, Karen Spalding, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru (Abridged), Hackett Publishing, →ISBN, page 104:

To enjoy the use of; make use of; profit by; to use, enjoy, possess, or hold.

Otherwise Scotland

Yea, my Lord: how brooks your Grace the ayre, / After your late toſſing on the breaking Seas?1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 34:
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 determination to be independent.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 28, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

Obsolete To earn; deserve.

Derived terms: abrook, unbrookable

brook

noun

Etymology From Middle English brook, from Old English brōc (“brook; stream; torrent”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōk (“stream”).

Northeastern, US A body of running water smaller than a river; a small stream.

empties itself, as doth an inland brook / into the main of watersc. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 8:7:

2 more examples

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 the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,[…].1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
"Most of them don't wash. Those who do usually plunge their head into some brook or rill, if there happens to be one about."1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 53:

Kent A water meadow, or (in the plural) low, marshy ground.

Derived terms: 141 terms
Common nouns, American brook char, American brook charr, babbling brook, broker, brook alder, brookie, brook lamprey, brookless, brooklet, brooklike, brooklime, brook mint, brookside, brook springfly, brook trout, brook wakerobin, brookweed, Proper nouns, Allynbrook, Anniebrook, Ashbrook, Bellbrook, Bessbrook, Blakebrook, Bonnie Brook, Boorara Brook, Bound Brook, Boyup Brook, Braybrook, Briarbrook, Broad Brook, Brookdale, Brooker, Brookfield, Brookhampton, Brookhaven, Brookhill, Brooklana, Brooklands, Brooklet, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Park, Brooksbank, Brooks Bay, Brookstead, Brook Street, Brookton, Brookvale, Brookville, Brookwater, Bullsbrook, Bybrook, By Brook, Carbrook, Carisbrook, Carrowbrook, Cherrybrook, Colbrook, Colebrook, Cranbrook, Cranebrook, Cressbrook, Cressbrook Creek, Crooked Brook, Crystalbrook, Crystal Brook, Dartbrook, Donnybrook, Eastbrook, Ellenbrook, Englesea-brook, Falbrook, Fernbrook, Fossilbrook, Gagebrook, Gembrook, Glenbrook, Glendon Brook, Gordonbrook, Grindley Brook, Hazelbrook, Henley Brook, Hester Brook, Hinchinbrook, Holbrook, Holcombe Brook, Huonbrook, Jane Brook, Kersbrook, Keysbrook, Kithbrook, Leabrook, Lennard Brook, Lethebrook, Lewinsbrook, Lower Cressbrook, Lynbrook, Marybrook, Meadowbrook, Middlebrook, Middle Brook, Middle Falbrook, Millbrook, Moonan Brook, Muswellbrook, Nanga Brook, Nectar Brook, Pickering Brook, Piesse Brook, Pipers Brook, Preston Brook, Quamby Brook, Rea Brook, Ripplebrook, Rosa Brook, Rosebrook, Rouchel Brook, Ryansbrook, Saddle Brook, Scotts Brook, Seabrook, Sedgebrook, Shannon Brook, Smith Brook, Southbrook, Southern Brook, Spencers Brook, Springbrook, Stamford Brook, Stewarts Brook, Stockton Brook, Stony Brook, Swanbrook, Thomson Brook, Upper Brookfield, Upper Dartbrook, Wambrook, Warabrook, Westbrook, Woolbrook

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