Also 3–6 brod, 5 brode. [A variant of BROD, which in its more general sense has retained the older form; the change of vowel is perhaps due to dialect pronunciation.]
1. A thin flattish nail of the same thickness throughout, but tapering in width, having a small ‘lip’ on one edge, instead of a head.
1295. in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, II. 490. [Elham, 300 brods].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 53. Brode, hedlese nayle, clavus acephalus.
c. 1450. Nominale, in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 727. Hic aculius, a brad.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 254. With moost buystous broddes of yren nayled them fast to ye sayd tree.
1582. Wills & Inv. N. C. (1860), II. 67. xv hondert latt brods 6/.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 158. Brad, is a Nail to Floor Rooms with.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 220. Brad, a small nail, having no head except on one edge.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metals, I. 194. Brads or spikes … sometimes made nearly a foot in length for the shipwright’s or builder’s use.
1881. Young, Every Man his own Mechanic, § 218. A light hammer with a small face … for driving brads.
2. slang. (see quots.)
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Brads, halfpence; also money in general.
1841. Marryat, Poacher, vi. ‘Have you any brads?’… ‘What are those?’… ‘Any money, to be sure.’
