brach

noun

1. (archaic)Originally, a synonym of scent hound (“a hunting dog that tracks prey using its sense of smell rather than by its vision”); later, any female hound; a bitch hound.

   “In ſome countreys no woman is ſo honourable as she that hath to doo with moſt men, and can give the luſtieſt ſtriker oddes by 25 times in one night, as Meſſalina did; and ſo it is with this his bratche, or bitch-foxe.”

   “Truth is a dog that muſt to kenell, hee muſt be vvhipt out, vvhen Ladie oth'e [or the] brach may ſtand by the fire and ſtinke.”

   “[A]uant you curs, / Be thy mouth, or blacke, or vvhite, tooth that poyſons if it bite, / Maſtife, grayhoũd [grayhound], mungril, grim-hoũd or ſpaniel, brach or him, / Bobtaile tike, or trũdletaile [trundletail], Tom vvill make them vveep & vvaile, […]”

   “[W]hen your Bratch is neere vvhelping, or hath vvhelpe; you ſhall ſeperate her from other Hounds, and haue a priuate Kennell for her, […] for vvhere a Bratch firſt vvhelpeth her litter, if they be remoued, ſhee vvil not leaue carrying her vvhelps vp and dovvne, til ſhee haue found the ſame place againe, or ſome other perhaps more vnfit then the former, […]”

   “A ſow pigge by chance ſucked a Brach, and vvhen ſhe vvas grovvne, vvould miraculouſly hunt all manner of Deere, and that as vvell or rather better then any ordinary hound.”

2. (archaic, derogatory)A despicable or disagreeable woman; a bitch.

   “Avvay this Brach. I'll bring thee, Rogue, vvithin / The Statute of Sorcerie, triceſimo tertio [thirty-three] / Of Harry the eight: […]”

   “Here's that ſhall ſtay your ſtomack better then the bit you ſnarle for. Thou greedy Brach thou.”

   “Now, was it not the depth of absurdity—of genuine idiocy, for that pitiful, slavish, mean-minded brach to dream that I could love her?”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, archaic, clipping, informal)Clipping of brachiopod.

name

1. A surname.
2. A commune in Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.