brand

Definition

A mark or scar made by burning with a hot iron, especially to mark cattle or to classify the contents of a cask.

Etymology

From Middle English brand, from Old English brand (“fire; flame; burning; torch; sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“flame; flaming; fire-brand; torch; sword”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to bubble forth; brew; spew forth; burn”). Cognate with Scots brand, West Frisian brân (“fire”), Dutch brand, German Brand, Danish brand, Swedish brand (“blaze, fire”), Icelandic brandur, French brand (< Germanic). More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *gorěti (“to burn”).

Example Sentences

• "“Well, in the first place, every cattleman has to have a brand to identify his stock. Without it no cattleman, nor half a hundred cowboys, if he had so many, could ever recognize all the cattle in a big herd. […]”"
• "The indelible word "homosexual," like a brand that grew deeper and redder every day, became increasingly hard to conceal and to ignore."
• "The Amtrak brand revitalization approach represents one of the most ambitious, comprehensive, and systematic experiential marketing approaches I have ever seen."

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