braffin
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
A variant form of bargham (“horse collar”), of which other forms include bahfam, barcom, barfing, bariham, barsham, braffam,[1] and (with the morphemes reversed) hamburgh,[2] from Middle English berw-ham, bergham, from Old English beorgan (“shelter”) + ham (“cover”).
Noun[edit]
braffin (plural braffins)
- (UK, regional) A horse collar, especially as used in girning.
- 2012, Jane Peyton, Brilliant Britain:
- One former winner hung up his braffin aged eighty-eight after seven decades of competing. His talents had improved with age.
- 2010, Derek Hollows, Voices in the Dark: Pony Talk and Mining Tales, page 79:
- There were many times when holes had to be dug between the sleepers that held the rails in place to allow the pony to travel, his braffin worn and scrubbed away. These tubs when derailed had to be lifted on with sheer brute strength. The taller pony was used to haul the tubs, usually in two's, three's or even four's from the flat to a much bigger landing […]
References[edit]
- ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “BARGHAM, sb.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumes I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.
- ^ Mentioned in the Scottish National Dictionary (1941), entry "BRECHAM"