Forms: 1–2, 4 broc, 6–8 brok, 8–9 (dial.) brock, 5– broke. [OE. broc ‘misery,’ and ʓebroc ‘fragment,’ f. brecan (pa. pple. ʓe-brocen) to BREAK. The later lengthening of the vowel may be from the inflected dissyllabic forms broces, brocu, etc.: cf. the pple. broke, brōken, formerly brŏcen. Brock remains dialectally.]
† 1. That which breaks; affliction, trouble, misery. Only in OE.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxix. § 10. God nyle for his mildheortnesse nan unaberendlice broc him ansettan.
971. Blickl. Hom., 59. Ealle þa sar and þa brocu þe se man to ʓesceapen is.
1061. in Thorpe’s Diplom., 389. Gefreod æghwylcere uneaþnesse ealles woroldlices broces.
† 2. A piece of anything broken off; a fragment; e.g., of bread or food, broken meats, remains. Obs.
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., Matt. xv. 37. Þæt to lafe wæs of þam broccan [c. 975 Rushw. G. ʓebroca; c. 1000 Ags. G. ʓebrote], hys naman seofan wilian fulle.
1507. Will of Bedyll (Somerset Ho.). A parcell of a broke of woode.
a. 1568. Wowing of Jok & Jenny, x. Bannatyne Poems, 160. Quhen ye haif done, tak hame the brok.
1721. Kelly, Sc. Prov., 211 (Jam.). I neither got stock nor brock.
1847–78. Halliwell, Brock, a piece or fragment. West.
1863. Barnes, Poems Dorset Dial., Coll. III. 101. Wi’ brocks an’ scraps to plim well out.
† 3. A breaking of the skin or body; a wound; a rupture. Obs.
c. 1350. Med. MS., in Archæol., XXX. 381. Hennebane rote Of ye broc is mych bote.
1535. Coverdale, Lev. xxiv. 20. Broke for broke, eye for eye, tothe for tothe.
a. 1563. Becon, New Catech. (1844), 94.
† 4. A breach of the law; a crime. Obs.
1481. Reynard (1844), 92. Hadde I knowen my self gylty in ony feat or broke.
5. pl. The short-stapled wool found in certain parts of the fleece, when ‘broken’ or sorted. A fleece consists of two main kinds of wool distinguished by the length and strength of the fiber; the sorts that are long and suitable for combing being called ‘matchings’ or ‘combing-sorts,’ the rest ‘short wools’ or ‘brokes.’ The spinning of the two sorts is by different processes. See NOILS.
1879. Standard, 22 April., 6/6. Wool and Worsted.—Bradford…. Noils and brokes are slow of sale.
1883. Daily News, 3 Sept., 2/6. Noils and brokes are in rather better request.
1885. F. H. Bowman, Struct. Wool, 352, Gloss., Brokes, short locks of wool found on the edge of the fleece in the region of the neck and belly.
