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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Chiefly Northeastern U.S. See creek. See Regional Note at run.
  2. v. To put up with; tolerate: We will brook no further argument.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A natural stream of water, too small to be called a river.
  2. To draw together and threaten rain: said of the clouds: with up.
  3. To use; enjoy; have the full employment of.
  4. . To earn; deserve.
  5. To bear; endure; support; put up with: always in a negative sense.

Wiktionary

  1. v. To use; enjoy; have the full employment of.
  2. v. To earn; deserve.
  3. v. To bear; endure; support; put up with; tolerate (usually used in the negative).
  4. n. a body of running water smaller than a river; a small stream.
  5. n. a water meadow.
  6. n. low, marshy ground.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A natural stream of water smaller than a river or creek.
  2. v. To use; to enjoy.
  3. v. To bear; to endure; to put up with; to tolerate.
  4. v. To deserve; to earn.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. put up with something or somebody unpleasant
  2. n. a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old English brōc.Middle English brouken, from Old English brūcan, to use, enjoy.

Examples

  • “Off on pressing business," cried the sanguine youth, as he dashed through the kitchen, frightening Alice, and throwing Toozle into convulsions of delight, -- "horribly important business, that 'won't brook delay;' but what _brook_ means is more than I can guess.”

    Gascoyne, The Sandal-Wood Trader A Tale of the Pacific

  • “Off on pressing business," cried the sanguine youth, as he dashed through the kitchen, frightening Alice, and throwing Toozle into convulsions of delight -- "horribly important business that ` won't brook delay; 'but what _brook_ means is more than I can guess.”

    Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader

  • “They must go straight over it, till they come to cleared land on the other side; then they must keep along by the edge of the wood, to the right, till they come to the brook; they must _cross the brook_, and follow up the opposite bank, and they'll know the ground when they come to it; or they don't deserve to.”

    Queechy, Volume I

  • “The sound of the mountain brook gives an illusion of rain drops,”

    Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

  • “This rain, falling on land five, ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand feet above the sea level, begins to run back to the sea, picking out the easiest road and cutting a channel that we call a brook, a stream, or a river.”

    Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine

  • “Here, Sam – just bend on this hook for me, while I see how the brook is further up.”

    Melbourne House

  • “No one cares for me, though I think the brook is sometimes sorry, and tries to tell me things.”

    Little Saint Elizabeth, and Other Stories

  • “As the dried-up brook is to the caravan, so are ye to me, namely, a nothing; ye might as well not be in existence [Umbreit].”

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

  • “The word brook was probably lost in the first generation.”

    The Hoosier Schoolmaster

  • “He is the only Indian in the country, who ever dared to chastise a white man, in his own camp; and had not the partisans of the hunter interfered, his soul at that time would have taken its flight to eternity; for the high spirited trapper could not brook from the haughty”

    Life in the Rocky Mountains

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Lists

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Comments

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  • fbharjo its meaning has gone from 'to enjoy' to 'to tolerate' Sep 7, 2009

  • slumry I like brook as a verb. And as a noun, it is fine. However, it just occured to me why I always think a brook should be still, like a pond.

    Fishy, fishy in the brook
    Pappa catch you on a hook
    Mamma fry you in a pan
    Baby eat you like a man.

    I always imaged the brook in the rhyme to be a body of still water. Babbling brook just sounds *wrong* to me. Jul 10, 2007

  • seanahan I like brook as a verb, but not as a noun, as in a babbling brook. The two meanings have separate etymologies, so this isn't inconsistent. Jul 10, 2007

  • fbharjo brook to tolerate is the meaning: but also to flow easily?? (but not silently but with white noise) Dec 27, 2006

  • john Is brooking sent the same as not brooking dissent? But not to worry, I brook all kinds of things around here. Dec 27, 2006

  • stpeter I quite like this word as a verb -- as in sentences like "John will brook no dissent around here." (Not true.) Dec 27, 2006

‘brook’ has been looked up 2539 times, loved by 3 people, added to 57 lists, commented on 6 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.