bric-a-brac

Definition

Small ornaments and other miscellaneous display items of little value.

Etymology

Borrowed from French bric-à-brac (“miscellaneous items of little value”), apparently from à bricq et à bracq (“at random; haphazardly”); bricq and bracq are expressive onomatopoeias of obscure origin.

Example Sentences

• "The palace of Versailles has been turned into a bricabrac shop, of late years; and its time-honoured walls have been covered with many thousand yards of the worst pictures that eye ever looked on."
• "No doubt her pleasure would have been at that moment to give him not only that gold which she had been saving up against rent-day, but the spoons, the furniture, and all the valuables of the house, including, perhaps, J. J.'s bricabrac, cabinets, china, and so forth."
• "Haven't an affair in the world, […] except a quarrel with a bric-à-brac man."