What does "brand" mean?
Brand: A sword, so called from its glittering or flashing brightness. [Poetic] Tennyson. Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand. Milton.
Additional senses
- 2.A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a cask, to designate the quality, manufacturer, etc., of the contents, or upon an animal, to designate ownership; -- also, a mark for a similar purpose made in any other way, as with a stencil. Hence, figurately: Quality; kind; grade; as, a good brand of flour.
- 3.A mark put upon criminals with a hot iron. Hence: Any mark of infamy or vice; a stigma. The brand of private vice. Channing.
- 4.An instrument to brand with; a branding iron.
- 5.(Bot.) Any minute fungus which produces a burnt appearance in plants. The brands are of many species and several genera of the order Pucciniæi.
- 6.To burn a distinctive mark into or upon with a hot iron, to indicate quality, ownership, etc., or to mark as infamous (as a convict).
- 7.To put an actual distinctive mark upon in any other way, as with a stencil, to show quality of contents, name of manufacture, etc.
- 8.Fig.: To fix a mark of infamy, or a stigma, upon. The Inquisition branded its victims with infamy. Prescott. There were the enormities, branded and condemned by the first and most natural verdict of common humanity. South.
- 9.To mark or impress indelibly, as with a hot iron. As if it were branded on my mind. Geo. Eliot. Brand"er, n.
- 10.One who, or that which, brands; a branding iron.
- 11.A gridiron. [Scot.]
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00