Forms: 3–4 brenk, 3–6 brynke, 5–6 brynke, 5–7 brinke, 6 brinck, 3– brink. [ME. brink (brenk), not known in OE.; corresp. to MDu. brinc (Du. brink), MLG. brink ‘edge of a field, grass-land, side of a hill, hill’ (whence mod.G. brink ‘green hill, grass-land’), Sw. brink ‘descent of a hill,’ Da. brink ‘steepness, precipice, declivity,’ all masc., cogn. with ON. brekka fem. (:—brinkâ) ‘slope, hill-side, hill.’ The Eng. word was prob. from Scandinavian. In sense brink formerly ran parallel with BRIM.]
1. The edge, margin or border of a steep place, such as one might fall over, e.g., the ‘brink’ of a precipice, chasm, pit, ditch, grave. On the brink of the grave (fig.): near death. [This is the specific current sense, which now also affects the use of 2, and entirely colors the figurative use in 5; but it is doubtful whether the first two quotations do not rather belong to 2.]
[c. 1300. Ancr. R., 242. Þe horse þet is scheouh, and blencheð uor one scheadewe upo þe heie brugge, and falleð adun into þe watere of þe heie brugge [MS. Titus D. xviii. brinke].
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 384. Vche a dale so depe þat demmed at þe brynkez.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 130. And caste hir eyen dounward fro the brynke [v.r. brinke, brenke]. Ibid., Merch. T., 157. I am hoor and old, And almost at [v.r. on] my pittes brinke.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl., 68. Your owine childe for to spill Upon this hilles brinke?
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 241. Of this deepe pit … I haue no strength to plucke thee to the brinke.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 918. The warie fiend Stood on the brink of Hell and look’d a while.
1709. Berkeley, Ess. Vision, § 148. He shall come to the brink of a precipice.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxix. (1856), 355. Upon the brink of the cleanly-separated fissures.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 209. Tottering on the brink of the grave.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 170. The church … is now on the very brink of the cliff.
2. The edge of the land bordering a piece of water, as a river, lake, the sea: formerly = ‘bank, shore, brim’; now esp. when this rises abruptly from the water: thus running into sense 1.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 141. Schup, bi þe se flode … Bi þe se brinke.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1766. Þe burnes ouer þe brink [Fairf. brenk] it brast.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xli. 3. Thei weren fedde in the brenke of the food [1611 vpon the brinke of the riuer].
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. I. 65. By þe see brynkes [juxta marium margines].
1480. Caxton, Descr. Brit., 17. A ryall cite vpon the brinke of twede. Ibid. (1483), Gold. Leg., 58/2. They sawe thegypcyens lyeng deed upon the brynkes of the see.
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 7. Azron Gaber, by the brinke of the redde sea.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 22. Reeds defend the winding Water’s Brink.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 36. Their habitations on the brink, or in the neighborhood of some lake.
1847. Grote, Greece, II. lii. On the brink of the sea.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 630. They marched … to the brink of the Boyne.
† 3. The brim of a vessel; = BRIM 4. Obs. or dial.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Chron. iv. 2. He maad … a ȝoten se of tenn cubitis fro brynke vnto brynk.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 52. Brynke of a wesselle.
a. 1500. Songs & Carols (1847), 56. Fyll the cope by the brynk.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 148. Thou muste spare at the brynke and not at the bottom.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, xii. (1870), 265. Fat doth swymme aboue in the brvnkes of the stomache.
1598. Drayton, Heroic. Ep., xxi. 151. A Bowle of Nectar, fill’d up to the Brinke.
1727. Swift, Baucis & Philemon, Wks. 1755, III. II. 33. Fill’d a large jug up to the brink.
b. The brim of a hat. dial.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 68. With weather-beaten hat of rusty brown, Stranger to brinks, and often to a crown.
† 4. gen. A margin, border, edge. Obs. or arch.
1388. Wyclif, Exod. xxv. 24. Make to it a goldun brynke.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 813. In places wete or moist make evry brynke Two foote in heght.
c. 1432–50. trans. Higden (1865), I. 309. In the brynkes of the lesse Asia.
1508. Balade agst. Tymes. Prudence and policy are banyst our al brinkis.
a. 1535. More, Wks. (1557), 81. The ytch of a sore leg, whan thou clawest about the brinkes.
1562. Bulleyn, Soarnes, 20 b. The brinkes of the wounde, must be oiled with Rosed omphacine.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 381. His ears erected upright, as the ears of a Cat … the farthest brinkes or edges, and also his latter may be bended on the other side.
1724. T. Hearne, Pref. R. Glouc., § 25. 81. In one part of this MS. at the very bottom, just on the Brink of a Page.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., Wks. (1846), 14/2, note. All these are coop’d within one Quarto’s brink.
† b. fig. arch.
1629. Whittock, in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1659), I. 688. Now we are but upon the brink and skirts of the Cause.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. v. 1. On the brink of the night and the morning.
5. fig. The very verge of some state, time, event or action: now esp. in the phrases on, to, from the brink of, a discovery, ruin, destruction, death, eternity, anarchy, revolution, absurdity, etc.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 122. Scho dred þer assaute, hunger was at þe brynk.
1607. Shaks., Timon, V. i. 159. You … Surprize me to the very brinke of teares.
1671. Marvell, Corr., cxcii. Wks. (1872–5), II. 384. It is impossible we should rise before the very brinke of Easter.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm. (1686), III. 191. Old men … visibly stand upon the brink of eternity.
1722. De Foe, Moll Fland. (1840), 297. I was at the very brink of destruction.
a. 1745. Swift, Wks. (1841), II. 63. To save them from the brink of ruin.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 19, ¶ 3. [They] follow them to the brink of absurdity.
1818. Mrs. Shelley, Frankenst. (1865), 61. Sometimes on the very brink of certainty I failed.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., V. xxiv. 367. As conqueror, he brought us to the brink of feudal anarchy; as despot, he saved us from passing the brink.
1884. Graphic, 158/3. The secret … on the brink of discovery.
b. with inf. (obs.) or gerund: On the very point of. (Now of something momentous or perilous.)
1702. T. Smith, in Pepys’ Diary, VI. 240. Upon the brink to complete fourscore.
1720. Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., I. IV. 228. You were upon the Brink of falling a Prey to our Enemies.
1788. Ld. Sheffield, in Corr. Ld. Auckland, II. 223. Trevor was on the brink of going to Petersburg.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag., xx. (1860), 468. I was on the brink of treating you with a full broadside.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., xvi. She is on the brink of being sold into wretchedness for life.
6. Comb. † brink-full, full to the brink, brimfull; brinkless, without any brink or border.
1553. Bale, Gardiner’s Obed., G vij. With an emptie and free minde and not already brynke full.
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., VIII. (1593), 207. The hunger of his brinklesse maw the gulfe that naught might fill.
