Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A brassiere.
Wiktionary
- n. physics One of the two vectors in the standard notation for describing quantum states in quantum mechanics, the other being the ket.
- n. a brassiere
- n. slang friend.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. same as brassiere.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an undergarment worn by women to support their breasts
Etymologies
- Representing a different pronunciation of bro, meaning brother (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Structured simply the campaign for the title bra separates women into two categories: Marilyn and Jackie the question recurs throughout the episode in careful variation.”
“Like all the best questions .... bra is short for brassiere, which a single item, als the word is French, and they are a singular people. bra is short for brassiere which is a word for a single object, whereas any item of clothing that covers both legs separately is referred to in plural as it comprises two leg coverings put together.”
“They say the bra is a symbol of women being oppressed by the media to be an object of beauty and all that jazz.”
“Hilliary plays the cards as they benefit her – never stands on her own two feet – her bra is always in Bill's pocket.”
Obama, Clinton supporters both say Clinton attacking unfairly
“Walk up to them and ask them what color their bra is – duck from the oncoming slap in the face – and then explain the reason why!”
Guys. Why Are Women Posting Colors on Facebook? | myFiveBest
“I SERIOUSLY just bought a bra from the teens department because mine have shrunk so.”
“As far as hanging about in ones underwear, I am certain for a fact that most readers would rather see me hanging out in my undies than persons of other gender persuations, But bike shorts and sports bra is as far as I'd be willing to go.”
“All shapes and sizes are accepted as long the bra is in good condition.”
The Huffington Post: 'Bra Recyclers' Donate Lingerie To Breast Cancer Survivors
“Michelle Dulak Thomson: A 12-year-old girl in bra and panties has “covered” the body parts that are “conventionally covered.””
The Volokh Conspiracy » Third Circuit Upholds Injunction of Threatened “Sexting” Prosecution
“A 12-year-old girl in bra and panties has “covered” the body parts that are “conventionally covered.””
The Volokh Conspiracy » Third Circuit Upholds Injunction of Threatened “Sexting” Prosecution
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bra’.
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3-Letter Scrabble Words Which Do Not ...
A list of 3-letter words which cannot be formed by adding a letter to a 2-letter word (see Ken Clark's word lists found at http://www.seattlescrab...
fiz, fix, fir, fig, fie, fib, eve, eke, egg, eek, ecu, ebb and 225 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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3 Letter Words
A list of English words that are three letters long.
ace, act, ade, ado, add, ads, age, ago, ail, air, aim, all and 397 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Fun with Apocopes
Words created by removing the end of a longer or original word. See also Fun with Aphesis.
abs, ad, bio, veg, veggie, tux, auto, bike, carbs, pecs, bro, sis and 186 more...
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3LW
3 letter words, not the girl band.
boggle and speed scrabble would not be half as fun without them.aah, boa, dot, fun, ick, log, oca, pyx, sos, was, aal, bob and 342 more...
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Two years
Okay, I admit it. I made a list of words my daughter knew when she was two years old.
bat, baba, a, abalone, about, acorn, adrienne, after, again, airplane, alison, all and 694 more...
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The braggadocio recipe
A selection of English* words ending with a vowel (except "y", "ea", ie", "ee", "oo", "ea", "ou") that is REALLY pronounced.
My favorite English words, by the way.
The good twin of The ...braggadocio, recipe, encyclopedia, solo, gnu, flu, maybe, apocope, mini, arrhythmia, folio, stereo and 197 more...
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loinfruit's Words
buddy, hungry, hug, want, you, i, mommy, school, ballet, sign, sign language, language and 170 more...
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darkmatt3r's Words
contusion, polymorphic encap..., wiki, blog, recursive, hacker, 1337, obfuscation, php, pflumm, wicket wicket .com, database and 35 more...
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Friend or Foe
Also check out Reese Tee's Through Thick & Thin for more friend words.
comrade, netop, bro, bra, brah, girl, boy, dude, homie, dawg, best friend, BFF and 60 more...
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Choppers
Words that have been cut down from their original glory, ie. apocopes, but are still 'understandable' in the chopped form. eg. doc for doctor. Most of them are horribilisms, I know :-( Let's keep t...
doc, rep, van, bus, fridge, pub, flu, hon, santa, diff, blog, exam and 49 more...
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False Friends
"False Friend" is a linguistic term for words that appear in more than one language, but with entirely different meanings. They can cause a lot of problems for the unwary tourist.
kill, fatal, lawman, sky, city, slut, alone, bless, fart, bog, arse, turd and 39 more...
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Stuffie: Burned!
Stuff you burn
Borrowed from uselessness and lifted from T-rex and Utahraptordraft card, friend, flag, evidence, rubber, house, skin, fingers, dinner, toast, witch, bridges and 24 more...
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Wordiepants
The pants, the pants, the pants are on fire...
A place to store all the pants fun currently scattered around the site (i.e. Wordiepants). Open to those accustomed to unearthing Wordie gems fo...wordiepants, we've got to get ..., pants issues, wonder sauna hot ..., britches, breeches, hammer capris, pants are your fr..., underpants, possibleunderpants, pants, panties and 71 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bra.
bourbonmots Allan Sherman sang about the singular vs plural issue in his song "One Hippopotami" (can usually be found on YouTube). Jul 27, 2011
antxeme haha~ Jul 27, 2011
tbtabby Means "good" in Swedish. Jul 13, 2009
skipvia ...sits down next to this girl and says "do you know Anal?" Dec 2, 2008
sionnach So, this dyslexic guy goes into a bra... Dec 2, 2008
bilby Maybe it's not the one-leg trouser that causes that but a triphthong. Dec 2, 2007
reesetee I know what you mean, c_b. I always imagine someone trying to put on a pair of one-legged trousers and hopelessly hopping around a room. Nov 27, 2007
seanahan I interpret it as panties go over both legs, where as the bra is worn over the chest. Nov 27, 2007
chained_bear Oh! So that's it! Thanks reesetee! ;)
Also, and perhaps paradoxically, I find stuff like the J. Crew catalog saying "The Pant" to be very pretentious. Nov 27, 2007
reesetee Because English is weird, that's why.
Nov 27, 2007
bilby I had an Indian friend who used pant and scissor in the singular. "I bought a new pant today." "Will you be passing me the scissor." Perhaps such usages are all the buzz in Bangalore. But he didn't wear a bra so I remain perplexed. Nov 27, 2007
chained_bear Pants: two legs, two cuffs, one pair, one garment.
Scissors: two blades, two points, two fingerholes, one pair, one tool.
By that argument you could say bra: two arm straps, two cups, one garment, which doesn't make sense at all. "I need to buy a pair of bra" is just dumb, and "...a pair of bras" means two of the garments, not two cups.
Which brings us back to: why not buy a pant, or use a scissor?
Politics, however, is just weird. I understand it makes strange bedfellows as well. Nov 27, 2007
uselessness Pants: Two legs.
Scissors: Two blades.
Politics: One is quite enough, thankyouverymuch. Nov 26, 2007
chained_bear Bra makes sense, as it's short for brassiere. But why are pants and scissors plural?
And for that matter, why does politics SOUND plural, even though it isn't? Nov 26, 2007
bilby Women have a lot to answer for. Nov 26, 2007
oroboros Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural? Nov 26, 2007