The noun is derived from Middle English bruit (“commotion, tumult; fame, renown; collective noun for a group of barons”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman brut (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour; collective noun for a group of barons”) and Old French bruit (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour”) (modern French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”)), a noun use of the past participle of bruire (“to make a noise; to rattle; to roar; to rustle”), from Late Latin brugere, an alteration of Latin rugīre (“to roar”) (the present active infinitive of rugiō (“to bray; to bellow, roar; to rumble”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“to belch; to roar”)), possibly influenced by Late Latin bragere (“to bray”). The English word is cognate with Catalan brogir (“to roar”); Old Occitan bruir, brugir (“to roar”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Meanings
(archaic, uncountable) Hearsay, rumour; talk; (countable) an instance of this.
Brother, we will proclaime you out of hand, / The bruit thereof will bring you many friends. c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], page 167, column 1:
And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, [...] 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., →OCLC, →OL:
But yet I loue my Country, and am not / One that reioyces in the common wracke, / As common bruite doth put it. c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 97, column 1:
[R]ememberyng yoʳ accustumable proudent demeanoʳ as well in the atteyning assurid knowledge of the intended purpose of the Scotts, from tyme to tyme, by suche good esp'iell and intelligence that ye have had among the said Scotts, as of the bruits and newes occ'rant amongs them, it is the more mervailed, that if eyther any such attemptats have been made by the said Scotts upon the king's subjects, or that any such bruits be in Scotland of the said duke's thider comyng, that ye have not advertised the king's highnes or me thereof before this tyme; [...] a. 1531, John Galt, quoting Thomas Wolsey, “[Appendix. Book III.] No. V. The Copie of My Lord Cardinall’s L’res, Sent to the Lord Dacre of the Northe.”, in The Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey, London: […] T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, published 1812, →OCLC, page xxxii:
Neither can they [vainglorious people] be Secret, and therefore not Effectuall; but according to the French Prouerbe; Beaucoup de Bruit, peu de Fruit: Much Bruit, little Fruit. 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Vaine-Glory. LIIII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 308:
Common bruit!—Is virtue to be eſtabliſhed by common bruit only?—Has her virtue ever been proved?—Who has dared to try her virtue? 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVII. From Mr. Lovelace, in Continuation.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 104:
The bruits of a treaty between the United Provinces and the United States, are as true as moſt of the bruits. 1780 November 7, John Adams, “Letter XXXVI”, in Correspondence of the Late President Adams. […], number 1, Boston, Mass.: […] Everett and Munroe, […], published 1809, →OCLC, page 266:
(countable, obsolete) A clamour, an outcry; a noise.
[S]ome fresh bruit / Startled me all aheap!—and soon I saw / The horridest shape that ever raised my awe,— [...] 1827, Thomas Hood, “The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies”, in The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, Hero and Leander, Lycus the Centaur, and Other Poems, Philadelphia, Pa.: E[liakim] Littell, […], and J. Grigg, […], →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 6:
There is no healing of thy bruiſe: thy wound is grieuous: all that heare the bruit of thee, ſhall clap the hands ouer thee: for vpon whom hath not thy wickedneſſe paſſed continually? 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nahum 3:19, column 2:
The noun is derived from Middle English bruit (“commotion, tumult; fame, renown; collective noun for a group of barons”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman brut (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour; collective noun for a group of barons”) and Old French bruit (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour”) (modern French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”)), a noun use of the past participle of bruire (“to make a noise; to rattle; to roar; to rustle”), from Late Latin brugere, an alteration of Latin rugīre (“to roar”) (the present active infinitive of rugiō (“to bray; to bellow, roar; to rumble”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“to belch; to roar”)), possibly influenced by Late Latin bragere (“to bray”). The English word is cognate with Catalan brogir (“to roar”); Old Occitan bruir, brugir (“to roar”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Meanings
(archaic, in UK, qualifier:current in the US, transitive) To disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.
Paranoid. Now he knew what it meant, this word that was bandied and bruited so easily, and he sensed the connections being made around him, [...] 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, published 2003, →ISBN, page 421:
[I]t's bruited that the tunnel would cost "10 to 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) more than the current high speed railway for each kilometer." Pony up, taxpayers! 2010 August 4, Darren Murph, “China’s Maglev Trains to Hit 1,000km/h in Three Years, […]”, in Engadget, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2020:
And if it be to be beleued, as bruted is by fame. / A day did paſſe without the Sunne. 1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 20, recto:
There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence. 1590, Thomas Hariot [i.e., Thomas Harriot], “To the Adventvrers, Favorers, and VVellvvillers of the Enterprise for the Inhabitting and Planting in Virginia”, in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, […], Frankfurt am Main: […] Ioannis Wecheli, […], →OCLC; reprinted as Narrative of the First English Plantation of Virginia […], London: Bernard Quaritch, […], 1893, →OCLC, page 9:
What need to bruit our pleasant quarrel abroad? You will like the weapons, sir, and you shall have your own choice from the pair … You are a fine fencer, I feel sure … 1908, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “Time—Place—Conditions”, in The Elusive Pimpernel, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 121:
In course of time Ariston died; and Demaratus received the kingdom: but it was fated, as it seems, that these words, when bruited abroad, should strip him of his sovereignty. 1859, Herodotus, “The Sixth Book of the History of Herodotus, Entitled Erato”, in George Rawlinson, Henry Rawlinson, J[ohn] G[ardner] Wilkinson, transl., The History of Herodotus. […] In Four Volumes, volume III, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 64, page 458:
As he took John Willet's view of the matter in regard to the propriety of not bruiting the tale abroad, unless the spirit should appear to him again, in which case it would be necessary to take immediate counsel with the clergyman, it was solemnly resolved that it should be hushed up and kept quiet. 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 33.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 128:
And the Kings rowſe the heauen shall brute againe, / Reſpeaking earthly thunder; [...] c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 127–128:
Even his amours he bruits forth to the public, to the delight of every pot-boy. 1822 September 1, “Character of an Ex-sheriff”, in The Rambler’s Magazine; or, Fashionable Emporium of Polite Literature, […], volume I, number IX, London: [William] Benbow, […], →OCLC, page 413:
Generally, Whether there be [...] any that stubbornly refuse to conform themselves to unity and good religion: any that bruiteth abroad rumours of the alteration of the same, or otherwise that disturbeth good orders, and the quietnes of Christs Church and Christian congregation. a. 1576, Matthew Parker, John Strype, “[An Appendix to Archbishop Parker’s Life.] Number XI. Articles for the Dioceses, to be Inquired of in the Archbishop’s Metropolitical Visitation.”, in The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker, the First Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. […], volume III, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1821, →OCLC, paragraph 22, page 32:
TV news shows had been bruiting the Boulder case, too; as a result, the atmosphere in the press section that night was knife-keen. 1974, Marvin Kaye, chapter 20, in The Grand Ole Opry Murders (A Hilary Quayle Mystery; 2), London: Head of Zeus, published 2014, →ISBN:
Bruiting about this notion of a "monarchical project," the Englishman persuaded himself that [Simón] Bolívar himself aspired to such a model. 2013, Marie Arana, “Man of Difficulties”, in Bolívar: American Liberator, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 388:
Thou art not ware, but thou art tossed on the tongues of all the city, casting away all shame, thou bruitest abroad thy deeds. 1914, Ovid, “[The Amores.] Book the Third.”, in Grant Showerman, transl., edited by T[homas] E[thelbert] Page and W[illiam] H[enry] D[enham] Rouse, Heroides and Amores […] (Loeb Classical Library; 41), London: William Heinemann; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section I, page 445:
fr ébruiter (to disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.) · ko 퍼뜨리다 (to disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.)
bruit en · NOUN · etymology 2
Pronunciation
/bɹuːt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
/ˈbɹui/ (General-American)
/bɹut/ (General-American)
/ˈbɹuːi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
/bɹuˈi/ (General-American)
/bɹuːˈiː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
Borrowed from French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”), from Old French bruit (“noise; sounds”); see further at etymology 1.
Meanings
An abnormal sound in the body heard on auscultation (for example, through using a stethoscope); a murmur.
Check for carotid bruits by listening to each carotid artery with a stethoscope. A bruit is a blowing or rushing sound that is created by the turbulence within the vessel. If a bruit is heard, do not perform this procedure. 2013, Barbara Aehlert, “Atrial Rhythms”, in ECGs Made Easy, 5th edition, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Mosby, →ISBN, page 117, column 1:
Gentlemen,—At the close of my last lecture I asserted that the bruit of the heart does not reside in the organ itself, that is to say, is not produced by any mechanism in the interior of the heart, or by a concurrence of circumstances independent of the surrounding organs. I showed you this clearly in the heart of the swan, whose sternum we removed. Upon opening the pericardium and placing the ear close to the heart, or even employing the stethoscope, no bruit or sound of any kind was to be distinguished. 1835 February 14, F[rançois] Magendie, “Physiology. Lectures on the Physical Conditions of the Tissues of the Body, as Applied to the Explanation of the Vital Phenomena. […] Lecture XVIII.”, in Thomas Wakley, editor, The Lancet, volume I, number 598, London: […] Mills & Co., […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 697, column 1:
The bruit in the pulmonary artery is always accompanied by the jugular bruit. In cases where the mitral valve is affected, we are sure to meet with two other bruits: one of which is in the pulmonary artery, and the other in the jugular veins. [Summarized from the London Medical Record, 15 June 1879.] 1879 October, “The Seat of the So-called Anæmic Bruit of the Cardiac Base”, in I[saac] Minis Hays, editor, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, volume LXXVIII (New Series), number CLVI, Philadelphia, Pa.: Henry C[harles] Lea, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 565:
The recognition and designation of a murmur as functional is a frontal challenge, for there is no absolute means of proof. The bruit is located most commonly at the pulmonic area, is of faint intensity, and uniform pitch. 1953, William Likoff, John H. Davie, “The Normal Heart”, in Franklin C[arl] Massey, editor, Clinical Cardiology, Baltimore, Md.: The Williams & Wilkins Company, →OCLC, page 111:
Besides chlorosis, there are several analogous affections, especially such as proceed from large losses of blood, in which the arterial bruits are generally very distinctly perceptible. In all these cases the existence of the bruits coincides with a more than ordinary fulness of the pulse: when this ceases, the bruits become invariably less and less manifest. [Translated from the Archives Generales de Medecine.] 1838 October 1, “Researches on the Cause of the Abnormal Auscultatory Sounds in the Large Arteries, &c. By M. Beau.”, in James Johnson, Henry James Johnson, editors, The Medico-chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine, volume 29 (New Series), number 18, London: S. Highley, […], →OCLC, page 572, column 1: