Also 6 brog, 7 brouge, 7–8 broge. [a. Irish and Gael. brōg ‘shoe, brogue, sandal’ (O’Reilly):—OIr. brōce shoe, app.:—OCelt. brācca: see BREECH.
(The phonetic series brācca, brōce, brōg, is normal. But the sense-history is difficult: the word has in Ir. and Gael., and had even in OIr., only sense 1. Sense 2 looks as if Englishmen had confounded the Ir. bróg with the mogan, a kind of legging, covering the whole leg as well as the upper surface of the foot. Yet the etymological identity of brōcc with Gaulish brācca, would point to a covering for the legs (‘barbara tegmina crurum’) originally. The sense of the first quot. is doubtful.)]
1. A rude kind of shoe, generally made of untanned hide, worn by the inhabitants of the wilder parts of Ireland and the Scotch Highlands.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinsh., II. 160/1. He was no sooner come home, but awaie with his English attires, and on with his brogs, his shirt, and other Irish rags.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 123. They buckle upon their feet a pair of Broges made of raw and untanned leather up to their ankles.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 214. I thought, he slept, and put My clowted Brogues from off my feet.
1775. Johnson, Journ. West. Isl. (1806), IX. 191. In Sky I first observed the use of brogues, a kind of artless Shoes.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 142. Some had been so used to wear brogues that they stumbled and shuffled about strangely in their military jack boots.
1865. Maffei, Brigand Life, I. 258. Rough, heavy brogues which hurt our feet.
† 2. pl. Hose, trousers. Obs.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., I. 48. The skirts of their [Turkish horsemen’s] coates, when they ride, are gathered within long stammel broges that reach to their ancles.
1625. Fletcher, Fair Maid, IV. ii. 45. A pair of brogs to hide thy mountainous buttocks.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, xvii. 87. The men in summer have trouses, or brougs, reaching down to their feet.
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistr., xix. Brandishing the rod, she doth begin To loose the brogues.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1812), II. 71. (Bartlett). Every man being ordered to tuck in his shirt tail and pull up his brogues.
a. 1845. Hood, Irish Schoolm., xv. The scourge plies that unkindly seam In Phelim’s brogues.
3. Fishing brogues, waterproof coverings for the feet and legs; waterproof leggings with feet.
1880. Advt., India-rubber goods, etc. Fishing brogue boots, leather soles.
4. Comb., as brogue-maker, brogue-shod; also Brogueful, as much as a brogue will hold.
1795. Statist. Acc. Scotl., XIV. 74. A number of tailors, and a few brogmakers.
1812. W. Tennant, Anster Fair, II. xxxvii. The brogue-shod men … Plaided and breechless all.
1832. J. Wilson, in Blackw. Mag., XXXI. 273. Having no … idea of … a foot but a brogueful of muscle.
