Forms: α. 3 brutaske, 4 brytasqe, 5 betrax (= bretask). β. 4 brutage, 4–5 bretage, 5 bretayge, britage, brytege, (9 Hist. bretache, brattish). γ. 4–5 bretais, -ays, 5 bretise, -asce, -ys, -is, brettys, bertes, bartes. δ. 9 (sense 2) brettis, brattice, -ish. [Found in many types: α. ME. brutaske, brytasqe, a. ONF. breteske, -aske, -esque: β. ME. brutage, bretage, etc., a. AFr. brutesche (Matt. Paris), OF. bretesche, mod.F. bretèche: γ. ME. bretasce, -ais, -is, etc., a. OF. bretesce, bretasce. The OF. breteske, -esche, -esce (rarely bertesque, -esche, -ece), correspond to Pr. bertresca, It. bertesca (baltresca), med.L. bretachia, bertescha, breteschia, etc. Of uncertain origin; according to Mahn (to whom Diez adheres) prob. a derivative of Ger. brett board, with Romanic suffix -esca, with sense of ‘boarding,’ ‘boardwork.’ The early forms in bru-, bry-, app. of English or Anglo-French origin, are due perhaps to the obscurity of the first vowel. The 15–16th-c. forms in ber-, bar- were northern: see BRATTICING. The original sense became obs. before 1500. To modern times the word has come down in local use, chiefly in connection with coal-mining, in the forms brettis (Derbyshire), brattice (Newcastle, etc.), brattish. Although brettis is the best form etymologically, brattice has become more generally known, and accepted in literary use; brattish has given the architectural brattishing.]
The general sense is ‘boarding, planking, a structure of boards.’ Hence spec.
† 1. A temporary breastwork, parapet or gallery of wood erected on the battlement of a fortress, for use during a siege. Obs.
α. type breteske.
1297. R. Glouc., 536. Atte laste hii s[s]ende Al the brutaske withoute, & the brugge brende.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3315. Þe kernels … wer broke & schente, & þe brytasqes on þe tour an heȝe dulfuly a-doun wer caste.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 50/1. Betrax or a walle, propugnaculum.
β. type bretesche, bretage.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1190. Bigge brutage of borde bulde on Þe walles.
c. 1350. Will. of Palerne, 3001. Here walles were broke · wiþ engynes strong, here bretages al a-boute · for brent & destroyed.
c. 1430. Wyclif, Song Sol. viii. 9 (Lamb. MS.). If it is a wal, bilde we theronne siluerne touris, ethir britagis.
c. 1450. Gloss. Garlande’s Dict., in Wright’s Voc., 130. Propugnacula, brytegys.
c. 1475. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 784. Hoc propinaculum, a bretayge.
[1851. Turner, Dom. Archit., II. v. 193. A drawbridge with a bretache above it.
1861. Sat. Rev., 6 April, 345/2. A very graphic report … describing the siege of that place in 1240, makes frequent mention of … brattishes, breastworks or turrets of timber.]
γ. type bretesce, ? bretis.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm. (Sel. Wks.), I. 191. Bi þis weye mai no man eende þe laste bretais of þis tour.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 163. A bretise brade.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxvi. 233 (Jam.). To mak defens and brettys.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 50. Bretasce [1499 bretays], propugnaculum.
c. 1450. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 731. Hoc signaculum, a bretys.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 873. Towart ther bretis. Ibid., 1005. A bertes. Ibid., 2897. To the bartes to behold and see.
[1885. C. Oman, Art of War, 59. The brattice was a wooden gallery fitted with apertures in its floor, and running along the top of the wall.]
b. The ‘battlement’ of a cup.
1465. Test. Ebor. (1855), II. 272. j. peciam argenti stantem cum uno bretis.
2. In form brattice (dial. also brattish): A partition, generally of deal. a. (esp.) A partition for the purpose of ventilation in the shaft of a coal-pit (shaft brattice), or in a drift, or other working of a colliery (drift, headways, or board brattice).
1851. Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh., 11. Shaft or main brattice is usually made of 3-inch Memel plank…. Common brattice is made of 1/2-inch American deal…. It is nailed to props set for the purpose (called brattice props).
1860. Times, 10 Dec., 10/2. Where only one shaft is sunk from economical or other motives, a downcast and an upcast are created by running an airtight partition, or ‘brattice,’ to the bottom.
1883. Standard, 23 Nov., 3/7. Gas still showed in the lamps on both sides of the brattice.
b. A partition of boards in a room. dial.
1851. Turner, Dom. Archit., I. vi. 201. A rude partition, called a brattish, rises to the eaves.
1863. Atkinson, Danby Provinc., Brattice, a wooden partition, serving to divide a closet or store room into two parts.
c. A lining of timber to a shaft or a headway in a pit.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Brettis (Derb.), a crib of timber filled up with slack or waste. Ibid., Brettis-way, a road in a coal-mine, supported by brettises built on each side after the coal has been worked out.
3. In form brattish: ‘A shelf; also a seat with a high back. north. dial.’ (Halliwell.)
4. attrib. in sense 2, as brattice-cloth, stout tarred cloth used in mines instead of wooden bratticing; brattice-nail, -work; brettis-way: see 2 c.
1885. Engineer, 15 May (Advt.). John Marsden, manufacturer of Tarred, Oiled, and Fire-Proof Brattice Cloth.
1880. Daily Tel., 5 Oct., 3/5. The tinned water-bottle, on which the miner, Michael Smith, scratched with the point of a rusty brattice nail the farewell letter to his wife.
