broach

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To bring up (a subject) for discussion or debate.
2. v. To announce: We broached our plans for the new year.
3. v. To pierce in order to draw off liquid: broach a keg of beer.
4. v. To draw off (a liquid) by piercing a hole in a cask or other container.
5. v. To shape or enlarge (a hole) with a tapered, serrated tool.
6. n. A tapered, serrated tool used to shape or enlarge a hole.
7. n. The hole made by such a tool.
8. n. A spit for roasting meat.
9. n. A mason's narrow chisel.
10. n. A gimlet for tapping or broaching casks.
11. n. Variant of brooch.
12. v. Nautical To veer or cause to veer broadside to the wind and waves: tried to keep the boat from broaching to.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A spit.
2. n. A spear.
3. n. An awl; a bodkin.
4. n. A spike; a skewer; a sharp stick; specifically, a rod of sallow, hazel, or other tough and pliant wood, sharpened at each end and bent in the middle, used by thatchers to pierce and fix their work.
5. n. A spur.
6. n. A fish-hook.
7. n. A spike or standard for a candle.
8. n. A taper; a torch.
9. n. A spindle; a spool.
10. n. In architecture, formerly, a spire of any kind; now, specifically, as used in some parts of England and by some writers on architecture, a spire which rises directly from the walls of its tower, without parapets and gutters.
11. n. A narrow - pointed chisel used by masons for hewing stones.
12. n. Any tapered boring-bit or drill. Broaches used for boring wood are fluted like the shell-bit, but tapered toward the point; but those used in boring metal are solid, and usually three-, four-, or six-sided. Their common forms are shown in the annexed figures. Broaches are also known as wideners and reamers.
13. n. A straight steel tool with file-teeth for pressing through irregular holes in metal that cannot be dressed by revolving tools.
14. n. That part of the stem of a key which projects beyond the bit or web, and enters a socket in the interior of the lock.
15. n. That pin in a lock which enters the barrel of the key.
16. n. The stick from which candle-wicks are suspended for dipping.
17. n. A gimlet used in opening casks for sampling their contents.
18. n. A fitting for an Argand gas-burner.
19. n. A start, like the end of a spit, on the head of a young stag.
20. n. A pin or clasp to fasten a garment; specifically, an ornamental pin, clasp, or buckle, and especially a breast-pin, of gold, silver, or other metal, attached to the dress or depending from the neck: in this sense now usually spelled brooch (which see).
21. To spit; pierce as with a spit.
22. To spur.
23. In masonry, to rough-hew.
24. To open for the first time for the purpose of taking out something; more especially, to tap or pierce, as a cask in order to draw the liquor: as, to broach a hogshead.
25. Hence, figuratively To open, as the mouth for utterance.
26. To let out; shed.
27. To state or give expression to for the first time; utter; give out; especially, begin conversation or discussion about; introduce by way of topic: as, to broach a theory or an opinion.
28. To give a start to; set going.
29. n. An occasional name for the hurdy-gurdy (which see).
30. n. In quarrying, a tool used in a machine-drill to break down the walls between a row of boreholes in order to form a continuous channel. Also called broaching-bit.
31. n. A short-stapled cotton grown in the Broach district of the Bombay Presidency, British India.

Wiktionary

1. n. A series of chisel points mounted on one piece of steel.
2. n. alternative spelling of brooch.
3. v. transitive To make a hole in, especially a cask of liquor, and put in a tap in order to draw the liquid.
4. v. transitive To open, to make an opening into; to pierce.
5. v. transitive (figuratively) To begin discussion about (something).
6. v. intransitive To be turned sideways to oncoming waves, especially large or breaking waves.
7. v. transitive To cause to turn sideways to oncoming waves, especially large or breaking waves.
8. v. transitive To be overcome or submerged by a wave or surge of water.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A spit.
2. n. Prov. Eng. An awl; a bodkin; also, a wooden rod or pin, sharpened at each end, used by thatchers.
3. n. A tool of steel, generally tapering, and of a polygonal form, with from four to eight cutting edges, for smoothing or enlarging holes in metal; sometimes made smooth or without edges, as for burnishing pivot holes in watches; a reamer. The broach for gun barrels is commonly square and without taper.
4. n. A straight tool with file teeth, made of steel, to be pressed through irregular holes in metal that cannot be dressed by revolving tools; a drift.
5. n. (Masonry) A broad chisel for stonecutting.
6. n. (Arch.), Local, Eng. A spire rising from a tower.
7. n. A clasp for fastening a garment. See Brooch.
8. n. A spitlike start, on the head of a young stag.
9. n. The stick from which candle wicks are suspended for dipping.
10. n. The pin in a lock which enters the barrel of the key.
11. v. To spit; to pierce as with a spit.
12. v. To tap; to pierce, as a cask, in order to draw the liquor. Hence: To let out; to shed, as blood.
13. v. To open for the first time, as stores.
14. v. To make public; to utter; to publish first; to put forth; to introduce as a topic of conversation.
15. v. obsolete To cause to begin or break out.
16. v. (Masonry), Scot. & North of Eng. To shape roughly, as a block of stone, by chiseling with a coarse tool.
17. v. To enlarge or dress (a hole), by using a broach.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. bring up a topic for discussion
2. n. a decorative pin worn by women