Also 6 brakkische, brachish, 7 brakish. [f. BRACK a. + -ISH1.]
1. Of a somewhat salt or saline taste; partly fresh, partly salt.
1538. Leland, Itin., VII. 139. The Water is a litle brakkische.
1594. Marlowe, Dido, I. ii. The southern wind with brackish breath.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1721), 83. Fresh Water he call’d it, but we found it brackish.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 128. This saltness increases until the water becomes decidedly brackish.
2. fig. and transf. a. Spoilt by mixture, as of sea-water with fresh. b. Nauseous, distasteful. c. Nautical (quots. 1867 and 1881).
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. vi. (1632), 514. Retaining at this day the [English] language … though brackish with the mixture of vulgar Irish.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Introd. 7. The pithy conciseness of the brackish tongue renders it eminently useful on duty.
1871. Rossetti, Dante at Ver., lv. The bread … Seemed brackish, less like corn than tares.
1881. Seth, Cycle Celest. Obj. (ed. 2), 2. Certain brackish rhymes.
