Forms: 4–6 broche, 5–7 broch, 6 broache, (8 dial. broych), 6– broach. [f. BROACH sb.: cf. F. brocher, Pr. brocar, brochar, It. broccare, f. broche, broca, brocca sb. Cf. BROKER.]
† 1. trans. To pierce, stab, thrust through. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 212. To broche hem with a [pak-] nedle.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 9539. He was brochit þurgh the body with a big speire.
1557. K. Arthur (Copland), I. xvi. He broched ye hors of kynge Ban through and through.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 52. His feet … with raynes of bridil ybroached.
1599. Warn. Faire Wom., II. 130. With the piercing steel Ready to broach his bosom.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, III. § 95. 364. Edward 2 … was cruelly broached to death with an hot iron spit.
† 2. spec. To prick with spurs; to spur. Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 277. Þer stedes broched þei fast.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., xxxix. 499. The burnes broched þe blonkes þat þe side bledis.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 15 b. Which broched their horses with their spores.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. xv. 82. With spurris brocheand the fomy steidis sydis.
c. 1530. Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 61. The capytayne of theym broched his horse agenst Arthur.
† b. absol. To spur, ‘prick.’ Obs.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3657. Clarioun … Comeþ by-fore faste brochyng, On ys stede of Araby.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10033. Troiell … brochit in bremely his brother to venge.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, ii. 63. The frenshemen brochyng with ye spore as fast as theyr horses might renne.
† c. const. To broach (spurs) to (a horse). rare.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. 632. They broched their spurres to their horses, and so retourned to Andwarpe.
† 3. To transfix (meat) with a spit that may hold it while roasting; to spit. Obs.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum, 26. Hit broch thou shalle, Then do hit to fyre and rost hit alle.
1483. Cath. Angl., 44. To Broche, verudare.
1530. Palsgr., 471/1. Whan you have broched the meate, lette the boye tourne.
1623. Favine, Theat. Hon., V. i. 49. Broching it, and then turning it at the fire himselfe.
† b. To stick (something) on a spit or pointed weapon which transfixes it; to spit. Obs.
1557. K. Arthur (Copland), V. v. 5. Thre damoysels turnyng thre broches, wheron were broched xii yonge children late borne lyke yonge byrdes.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. Prol. 32. Bringing Rebellion broached on his Sword.
1655. Theophania, 172. Percianus … walks as if he were broached upon a stake.
1704. Worlidge, Dict. Rust. et Urb., s.v. Basting of Hemp, Broaching them, or spitting them upon long sticks.
4. To pierce (a cask, etc.) so as to draw the liquor; to tap.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 52. Brochyn or settyn a vesselle broche, attamino.
1530. Palsgr., 471/1. I broche a wyne vessel, je perce.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., I. 31. It is too daungerous to broach a vessell of poyson.
1659–60. Pepys, Diary (1879), I. 87. We broached a vessel of ale that we had sent for among.
1707. Farquhar, Beaux’ Strat., I. i. 2. Here, Tapster, broach Number 1706.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., V. xliii. 25. A pipe of wine was broached.
b. Also with the liquor as object.
1650. Baxter, Saints’ R., I. v. § 1 (1654), 49. For you, Christians, is this wine broached.
1713. Lond. & Country Brewer, I. (1742), 80. Time for broaching such Beer.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., iii. 77. French wine which had just been broached.
c. fig., and of a vein, blood.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (1884), 9. So cunning … to bru, and so reddi to broche debate.
1575. J. Still, Gamm. Gurton, II. iii. Ye see … one end tapt of this my short devise. Now must we broche t’other to.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. II. 489. Bloud was ready to be broach’d.
1817. J. Gilchrist, Intell. Patrimony, 157. He could wrench out a tooth, broach a vein, splice a bone.
1871. Browning, Pr. Hohenst., 1867. One way I bid broach the blood O’ the world.
6. transf. and fig. To pierce or break into, in order to liberate or extract something; to ‘tap’ (a bed of coal or other mineral).
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 20. With poyncted flatchet thee mountan he broached.
1592. Greene, Disput., Addr. 1. I haue broacht vp the secretes of vice.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, 371. A Countrey … where God broached a rich vein of gold for this particular purpose.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxv. 470. The uppermost coal bed … was termed the ‘broachcoal,’ as being the index by which the rich field was broached or tapped.
1847. Miller, First Impr., x. 167. The Dudley coal field seems to have been broached just in time.
7. To give vent or publicity to; to give out; to begin conversation or discussion about, introduce, moot. (The chief current sense.)
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 49/1. To broch a newe and straunge doctrine.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Pref. v. § 3. To broach my private conceit I should be loth.
1614. T. Adams, Divell’s Banket, 52. Euery Nouelist … must broach new opinions.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 457, ¶ 2. Last Friday’s Letter, in which I broached my Project of a News-Paper.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 317, note. He [Dr. Franklin] broached the idea of the American Philosophical Society.
1860. Motley, Netherl. (1868), II. xiv. 203. Failing in that we broached the third point.
8. techn. To pick, indent or furrow the surface of stone with a narrow-pointed stone-chisel called a broach, or puncheon. (The kind of work produced varies in different localities.)
1544. Chapel Roll, in Gloss. Goth. Archit. (1845), I. 74. In hewinge, brochinge, and scaplyn of stone for the chapell.
1703. Thoresby, Let. Ray, To broych, or broach, as Masons an Atchler, when with the small point of their ax, they make it full of little pits or small holes.
1808. Jamieson, To broach, to rough-hew.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., 1236. The face of the stone should be previously droved, and then broached.
