Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The young of herring and similar fish.
- n. Minute marine organisms, such as crustaceans of the genus Calanus, that are a major source of food for right whales.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To break in pieces; divide.
- To bruise; indent.
- To fall out or shatter, as overripe hops or grain.
- To fade away; alter.
- n. A young herring of the common kind, occurring in large shoals, and formerly classed as a separate species, Clupea minima.
- n. A general name for animals upon which whales feed, as Clio borealis, etc.; whale-brit.
- n. An abbreviation of British and Britain.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To break in pieces; divide.
- v. transitive To bruise; indent.
- v. intransitive To fall out or shatter (as overripe hops or grain).
- v. intransitive, dialectal To fade away; alter.
- n. One of the young of herrings, sprats etc
- n. One of the tiny crustaceans, of the genus Calanus, that are part of the diet of right whales.
- n. brit milah
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The young of the common herring; also, a small species of herring; the sprat.
- n. The minute marine animals (chiefly Entomostraca) upon which the right whales feed.
WordNet 3.0
- n. minute crustaceans forming food for right whales
- n. a native or inhabitant of Great Britain
- n. the young of a herring or sprat or similar fish
Etymologies
- Short for brit milah. (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps from Cornish brȳthel, mackerel (from Old Cornish breithil, from *breith, speckled) or from Welsh brithyll, trout (from brith, speckled). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The other wrong answer: if you were a book, who would most likely read you? students in brit lit I (middle english to 1600)”
“Adler also regards this marriage ceremony, called brit ha-ahuvim (covenant of the loved ones), as appropriate for both heterosexual and same-sex couples.”
“In the Propontis, as far as I can learn, none of that peculiar substance called brit is to be found, the aliment of the right whale.”
“In the Propontis, as far as I can learn, none of that peculiar substance called brit is to be found, the aliment of the Right Whale.”
“One of those is a commandment called brit milah, which translates as covenant of…”
“There is a comment in this blog about the pompous 'brit'; he is incredible...very knowledgeable about food and was able to describe the taste exactly.”
“As a brit, I have no idea what a binder clip or a butterfly Clip is!”
“Sure there are fringe groups of Jews that have always been against brit milah, but 99% of Jews, religious and secular, follow this ancient ritual without question.”
The Huffington Post: Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater: The Torah, The Constitution, And The 4th Of July
“As far as I know it's brit-com, but not stiff upper lip-ish ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘brit’.
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fish list
lots and lots of fish, a piscatorial
wetdreamablet, agnathan, ahi, ahuru, ahuruhuru, albacore, albicore, alec, alewife, allice, allis, amberjack and 840 more...
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Herring
herring, pickled herring, red herring, bloater, herring-buss, herring-fishery, herring pond, herring-pond, whitebait, herringbone, herring-bone, buss and 65 more...
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cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
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Moby-Dick
Interesting words and usages.
hypo, spile, hunks, grapnel, squitchy, skrimshander, monkey jacket, direful, grego, wrapall, dreadnaught, bosky and 158 more...
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Norwegian female names
aase, ada, agnes, aina, amalie, ane, anette, anita, anja, ann, anna, annette and 160 more...
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Are we there yet?
These have some growing up to do.
colt, foal, kitten, cub, pup, heifer, larva, imago, veliger, trochophore, grub, maggot and 178 more...
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whaling terms
Terms defined in the glossary of Clifford W. Ashley's "Yankee Whaler".
advance, adze, after house, after oar, agent, air up, alow, ambergris, apeak, article, away, bailer and 299 more...
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the opposite of sympathy
words I dislike, rationally or not.
money, paddy, goo, shout, forte, nihilistic, emo, indie, blubber, pathetic, proem, blithe and 17 more...
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Words that other people feel very str...
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natalya1718's list
Words
stroky (aka: tall..., oh my lanta georgia, darndit, clumb, thwack, zarf, swart, brit
Tweets
Looking for tweets for brit.

ruzuzu Also see brite. Jan 26, 2012
yarb In the Propontis, as far as I can learn, none of that peculiar substance called brit is to be found, the aliment of the right whale.
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 45 Jul 24, 2008