Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
abroach. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
abroach, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
abroach in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
abroach you have here. The definition of the word
abroach will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
abroach, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English abroche, from Norman, from Old French abroche (“to spigot”). Equivalent to a- + broach.
Pronunciation
Verb
abroach (third-person singular simple present abroaches, present participle abroaching, simple past and past participle abroached)
- (transitive, obsolete) To set abroach; to let out, as liquor; to broach; to tap.
1633, George Herbert, The Agonie:on the crosse a pike / Did set again abroach
Adverb
abroach (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Broached; in a condition for letting out or yielding liquor, as a cask which is tapped. [1]
- 1709, Joseph Addison, The Tatler, No. 146, 16 March, 1709, Glasgow: Robert Urie, 1754, p. 115,
- Jupiter, in the beginning of his reign, finding the world much more innocent than it is in this iron age, poured very plentifully out of the tun that stood at his right hand; but as mankind degenerated, and became unworthy of his blessings, he set abroach the other vessel, that filled the world with pain and poverty
1820, Walter Scott, chapter 11, in Ivanhoe, volume 3, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, page 285:[…] hogsheads of ale were set abroach, to be drained at the freedom of all comers.
- (obsolete) In a state to be diffused or propagated. [1]
- Synonyms: afoot, astir
c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. (First Quarto), London: Valentine Sims for Andrew Wise, , published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:I doe the wrong, and first began to braule / The secret mischiefes that I set abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: […]- I do the wrong, and am the first to begin to quarrel. / The secret mischiefs that I set afoot, / I blame on others:
- 1761, George Colman, The Genius, No. 6, 20 August, 1761, in Prose on Several Occasions, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 1, p. 64,
- When a person of high rank is destined for the victim, an emissary is dispatched to set the story abroach at some obscure coffee-house in the city, whence it speedily marches to its head quarters near the court:
Adjective
abroach (not comparable)
- Tapped; broached. [1]
- Astir; moving about. [1]
Translations
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abroach”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 8.