Forms: 7 brigada, -do, 7 briggad, 7–9 brigad, 7– brigade. [a. F. brigade (15th c.), ad. It. brigata ‘company, crew, rout of good fellows’ (Florio), f. brigare to brawl, wrangle, fight, f. late L. briga (It., Pr. briga, Fr. brigue) strife, contention. See -ADE. In 17th c. also in the form brigada, and improperly brigado: see -ADO. Milton accented bri·gad, which has been followed by some later poets in the non-technical sense 2 a.]
† 1. A company or ‘crew’ of people. Obs.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. James V., Wks. (1711), 199. Ye are such a brigade of papists, and antichristian crew.
1650. Howell, Revol. Naples (1664), 117. All that huge Brigade of peeple.
2. a. gen. A large body or division of troops.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. James V., Wks. (1711). 9. He would … bring such war-like brigades of French and Germans.
1649. Lilly, Peculiar Prognost., 6. Some motion of our Armies or stragling Brigadoes.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 675. Thither wing’d with speed A numerous Brigad hasten’d.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. 16. The peace establishment of Hadrian … was composed of no less than thirty of these formidable brigades.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, II. 208. What kings by war Were roused, what brigads, following each, filled up The champaign.
b. spec. A subdivision of an army, consisting formerly of two regiments or squadrons; but the composition now varies in different countries. In the British Army, since its recent reorganization the word is used only in the Artillery, there being at present [c. 1897] 2 brigades of the Horse Artillery, and 4 of the Field Artillery. (The Garrison Artillery, on the other hand, consists of 11 ‘divisions.’)
1637. Monro, Exped. with Mackay’s Regt., II. 184. Twelve companies thus complete would make up three squadrons … which … would make a complete briggad of foote.
1642. Charles I., in Declar. Lords & Comm., 19 May, 31. A party … who commanded a Brigado.
1645. Cromwell, Lett. & Sp. (Carl.), 14 Sept. Colonel Welden, with his brigade, marched to Pile Hill.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3832/2. The Duke of Vendosme left … four Brigades of Foot near the place.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 437. Marlborough, to whom William had confided an English brigade consisting of the best regiments of the old army of James.
1855. Tennyson, Charge L. Brigade, i. ‘Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!’ he said.
1886. Whitaker’s Alm., 163. Field Artillery; 1st Brigade: Dépôt, Newcastle.
3. A band of persons more or less organized for purposes of fighting, hunting, etc.; also a disciplined band of workers wearing a uniform, e.g., fire-brigade, shoe-black-brigade. Boys’ brigade, an organization of the boys connected with a church or mission, for purposes of drill and instruction; begun in Glasgow in 1884.
1806. Hutton, Course Math., I. 219, note. A brigade of sappers consists generally of eight men, divided equally into two parties.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, I. 166. The rest were organized into three brigades, and sent off in different directions, to subsist themselves by hunting the buffalo. Ibid., 30. The various brigades of trappers.
1887. Chr. Leader, 3 March, 134/3. The Boys’ Brigade … Ladytown Free Church, Arbroath, has started a company of this brigade.
4. Comb. and Attrib., as brigade depot, ribbon; brigade-major, a staff officer attached to a brigade, who assists the brigadier in command, and acts as the channel through which orders are issued and reports and correspondence transmitted.
1810. Wellington, Lett., in Gurw., Disp., V. 598. A Brigade Major appears to me to be a necessary appointment in Cadiz.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 59. The Brigade-Major, or an orderly Adjutant, is to be constantly in the Lines of the Camp of the Brigade. Ibid. (1873), § 5. Brigade depots are … to be inspected.
