Also 6–7 bragget, braget(t, 8 brecate, brockett. [The earliest form bragget appears to be (either directly or through F. braguette) ad. Sp. bragueta, dim. of braga:—L. brāca, sing. of brācæ breeches; the form bracket is a corruption, perh. influenced by It. bracheta, dim. of braca:—L. brāca.
The Eng. senses are difficult to account for, but may in part be based on unrecorded senses of the Sp., It. or Fr. words. Prof. Skeat suggests that the ‘bracket’ of architecture may have been so called from its resemblance to the ‘codpiece’ of a pair of breeches (Sp. bragueta meant both ‘codpiece’ and ‘bracket’). Further, a name suggested by ‘breeches’ may naturally have been applied to an apparatus consisting of two limbs set at an angle, like the ‘bracket’ of shipbuilding, or to appliances used in pairs, like the ‘brackets’ of a gun-carriage. Then, as a bracket of any kind was generally used for support, the erroneous etymology from L. brachium ‘arm’ or its Romance derivatives presented itself, and seems to have affected the development of senses. Cf. also OF. bracon and braquant ‘supporting beam.’]
1. In Building, a piece of stone, wood or metal projecting from a wall, and having a flat upper surface which serves as a ledge to support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, shelf, etc.; usually carved or sculptured, and sometimes employed merely as a decoration; under the name of bracket are included the CORBEL and the CONSOLE.
1580. Baret, Alv., B 1099. A Bragget or staie … in building to beare vp the sommer or other part.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., 136. Modilions … are a kind of Bragets to the Corona.
1707. J. Mortimer, Art. Husb., 564. Let your Shelves be laid upon Brackets.
1845. Parker, Gloss. Archit., I. 60.
1859. Turner, Dom. Archit., III. 213. The angel bracket of an oriel window.
b. A small (usually ornamental) shelf, or set of two or three shelves, for the wall of a room.
1635. Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, Washingtons, Introd. 70. Bragetts for the drawinge room.
1714. Lond. Gaz., No. 5214/3. Gilt Brocketts, Desks, and Book Cases.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, Jrnl. (1884), 75. Above the lintel … [are] brecates set out for china.
1810. Jebb, Corr., II. 5. You shall have … a bracket for your books.
1881. Young, Every Man his own Mechanic, § 735. Brackets, which are short, small shelves, may also be fixed to the wall.
c. transf. (? with allusion to BRACT.)
1860. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., V. VI. iii. 14. The little brackets, which project beneath each bud and sustain it.
2. In Carpentry, Shipbuilding, etc.: A support consisting of two pieces of wood or metal joined at an angle, or of a single piece bent at an angle. Also attrib., as bracket plate.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 11. The brackets are little carued knees to support the Galleries.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 100. Brackets, short crooked timbers, resembling knees, for support or ornament. The Hair Bracket is the boundary of the aft-part of the figure head.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 363/2. The principal transverse frames are made up of … bracket plates.
3. One of the two ‘cheeks’ or side-pieces of a gun-carriage, which support the trunnions of a piece of ordnance; also used of the entire carriage of a gun mounted on board ship or in a casement.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Cheeks of a mortar, or Brackets … are made of strong planks of wood … they rise on each side of the mortar, and serve to keep her at what elevation is given her.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 5. Brackets—transom—fore axletree.
1880. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), XI. 311. The trail [of gun-carriage] consists of two side brackets.
4. A metal pipe, usually of ornamental shape, projecting from the wall of an apartment, at once to support and supply the gas lamps or burners.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., § 2264 e. The outer arm of the bracket should be protected on the top by a hanging shade.
5. One of two marks of the form [ ] or ( ), and in mathematical use also { }, used for enclosing a word or number of words, a portion of a mathematical formula, or the like, so as to separate it from the context; in typography, esp. applied to ‘square brackets’ (formerly called crotchets), the ‘round brackets’ being designated ‘parentheses.’ Sometimes improperly applied to the ‘vinculum’ or horizontal line over the writing, serving in algebra the same purpose as brackets; also to the ‘brace’ { used for coupling together two lines of writing or printing (cf. BRACKET v.); hence brackets is used fig. for ‘the position of being bracketed equal, equality.’
1750. G. Fisher, Instructor (ed. 10), 23. [ ] Brackets or Crochets, generally include a Word or Sentence, explanatory of what went before.
1824. L. Murray, Eng. Gram., I. 413. Crotchets or Brackets [ ] serve to enclose a word or sentence, which is to be explained in a note, or the explanation itself, or a word or sentence which is intended to supply some deficiency, or to rectify some mistake.
1859. Barn. Smith, Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6), 194. A Bracket ( ) or { }, or [ ].
1880. Bp. Goodwin, in Macm. Mag., No. 246. 477. Sedgwick was in the first bracket.
1883. Standard, 12 Feb., 2/6. On a shorter course Regnard is not unlikely to earn brackets.
6. Comb. and Attrib., as bracket-bolt, an iron bolt securing a mortar to its brackets; bracket-burner, -light, a gas-bracket; = sense 4; bracket-crab, a crab or windlass designed for attachment to a wall or post; bracket-shelf, a form of bracket used as a shelf; bracket-stair, -staircase (see quot.); bracket-trail, in Gunnery, a trail composed of two or more timbers or irons, opposed to block trail; bracket-wise adv., after the manner of, or so as to resemble, a bracket.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Cheeks, Bolts of iron which go through both cheeks, both under and behind the mortar … are called the bracket-bolts.
1865. C. H. Owen, Elem. Lect. Artillery (ed. 4), 62. The travelling carriages for siege guns had bracket trails, but those now made … are similar in construction to the 40-pr. block trail carriage.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., § 2293 j. Fix … bracket burners in passages. Ibid., § 2183. A Bracket Staircase is one which has an opening or well … and is supported by landings and carriages. Ibid. In bracket stairs the internal angle of the steps is open to the end.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Dec., 11/2. Timbers … are pushed out bracketwise … layer above layer.
