Brad
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /bɹad/
- US IPA: /bɹæd/
- Rhymes: -æd
Origin
Late Middle English, 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’).
Full definition of brad
Noun
brad
(plural brads)- 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.
- 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, p. 5: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.
- (US, elementary school usage, particularly kindergarten and primary grades) A brass 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.