Also 5–6 brall(e, braul(e, braull. [Late ME.: origin and primary sense uncertain: mod.Du. has brallen to brag, boast, mod.Ger. dial. brallen to shout, roar, both apparently recent, and of unknown origin. (Franck thinks the Du. prob. echoic, with influence of various other words.) ON. bralla ‘to trick, job,’ does not suit the sense. F. brailler to shout, make a din, bawl, found in 14th c. (which Littré thinks a deriv. of braire to bray) approaches the sense, but could not phonetically be the source of the Eng. word. Mätzner separates brall to make a noise, and brawl to quarrel, but such a division does not appear tenable.]
1. intr. ‘To quarrel noisily and indecently’ (J.); to wrangle; to squabble. (In very early use and in Shaks. 1597 it was perhaps simply ‘to contend, strive, quarrel.’)
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 573. That brwyss, that presumyt swa Aganys him to brawle or ryss.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 48/1. Brawlyn or strywen, litigo, jurgo.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 125. Gyue thou place to hym that brawleth or chideth.
1530. Elyot, Gov., I. xxii. Men do braule, whan betwene them is altercation in wordes.
1548. Coverdale, Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. i. 10. To fyght and braule with woordes, is agaynste honestie.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. iii. 70. His diuisions (as the Times do braul) Are in three Heads.
1609. Bible (Douay), Gen. xxvi. 21. They brawled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmitie.
1741–3. Wesley, Jrnl. (1749), 92. Expell’d the society…. Three, for quarrelling and brawling.
1853. T. T. Lynch, Self-Improvement, iv. 100. A gentleman will not brawl with everybody, nor indeed brawl with anybody.
† b. trans. To chide, scold, revile. Obs.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 36. Brawlyng and betyng hym as his seruaunt. Ibid. (1483), G. de la Tour, G v b. She that brawled and reproched her of her husbondes.
a. 1529. Skelton, Why nat to Court, 593. His servauntes menyal He doth revyle and brall.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Idea, Wks. (1711), 220. They will essay to brawl the present form of state and church-government.
2. intr. To raise a clamor, make a disturbance; in early use sometimes to brag or boast loudly. (To brawl in church technically includes any speaking other than as prescribed in the Prayer Book.)
1447–8. Shillingford, Lett. (1871), 23. He can … braule, brayge, and brace, lye and swere well to.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 141. Begyn he to bralle, many men cache skorne.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. viii. 84. Now brawland in this place, now voustand thar.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. clxiv. 203. And belles began to braule, wherby it myght well be known that ther was besynesse in hande.
1552. Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI., iv. § 1. If any Person … by Words only, quarrel, chide or brawl in any Church or Churchyard.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 16/2. They brall as cattes & doggs in an vnknown language.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., I. iii. 324. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawle.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. II. V. v. 66. Patriotism … may brawl and babble yet a little while.
† b. refl. To boast oneself loudly. Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1349. Loo! how he brawles hyme for hys bryghte wedes.
c. trans. To utter clamorously.
1563. Mirr. Mag., Rivers, x. No matter what they brall.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. i. 71. What are you brauling here?
1832. Tennyson, Pal. Art, 210. I care not what the sects may brawl.
3. intr. Of a stream: To make a noise of conflict in its rapid course over stones, etc.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. i. 32. The brooke that brawles along this wood.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., II. iv. (1849), 109. The late dimpling current began to brawl around them.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, III. xii. A wild stream … Came brawling down its bed of rock.
1869. Spurgeon, J. Ploughm. Talk, 43. Shallowest brooks brawl the most.
4. with compl. (trans.) To drive or force down, out, etc., by brawling.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 383. Till their soule-fearing clamours haue braul’d downe The flintie ribbes of this contemptuous Citie.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. iv. (1840), 57. Juno was within an ace of brawling him out of heaven.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. V. vii. 155. So must Paris … brawl itself finally into a kind of sleep.
