Obs. Also 5 browle. [prob. f. BRAWL v.1, with which at least it was associated in use: but it may have been at first identical with ME. broll: see BROLL sb.] A brawler, a bravo, a bully.
(Some of the following quotations are quite uncertain.)
c. 1440. York Myst., xxx. 6. What brawle þat with brawlyng me brewis. Ibid., xvi. 38. What browle þat is brawlyng his brayne loke ȝe brest.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 5. Why not this Bag to mee then too, thou brawl.
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq., 34. I’m his Swabber,… his Book-keeper, his Brawl, his Errand-boy. [Cf. BROLL sb.]
