i Register
In some senses, brawl is marked as obsolete, historical. Watch for register when choosing this word.
brawl
UK /bɹɔːl/ US /bɹɔl/
verb 5noun 3
Collocations
8(noun.)
ADJ
drunken | bar-room, pub, street | mass
VERB + BRAWL
provoke, spark, start | be/become/get involved in, be/get caught up in, get into
PREP
in a/the ~
Two drunk men started fighting, and several bystanders accidentally ended up in the brawl.
~ between
Two groups of drunk men got into a brawl between the bar and the parking lot.
~ over
Two men got into a brawl over a parking space at the shopping center.
Definitions
noun
1
A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved.
Three Ciuell brawles bred of an airie word, / By the old Capulet and Mountague, / Haue thrice diſturbd the quiet of our ſtreets.
The complaint charged that the defendants, on, etc., at, etc., "in a certain public place, to wit, in a certain school-house in which a singing-school was then and there being held, did make a great brawl and tumult, and stamped their feet on the floor, hissed, used loud and saucy language, and were guilty of rude, indecent, and disorderly conduct."
verb
1
To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel.
I doe the wrong, and firſt began to braule / The ſecret miſchiefes that I ſet abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: [...]
Theſe are the deep and profound Myſteries of Artificial Logick, invented with ſo much care by theſe fallacious Doctors, [...] Theſe are the Nets, and theſe are the Hounds with which they hunt the Truth of all things, whether natural, as in Phyſicks; or ſupernatural, as in Metaphyſicks: but according to the Proverb of Clodius and Varro, can never overtake, by reaſon of their bawling and brawling one with another.
2
To create a disturbance; to complain loudly.
Say beggar, why brawlest þou? go boune þe to þe barre.
She [the son's wife] is one that is euermore full of ſtryfe / And of all Scolders beareth the Bell. / When ſhe ſpeaketh beſt, ſhe brawleth her tonge / When ſhe is ſtyll ſhe fyghteth apace: / She is an olde Witch thoughe ſhe be yonge, / No mirth with her, no ioye or ſolace.
3
Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise.
To day my Lord of Amiens, and my ſelfe, / Did ſteale behinde him as he lay along / Vnder an oake, whoſe anticke roote peepes out / Vpon the brooke that brawles along this wood, [...]
―When low-hung clouds each ſtar of ſummer hide, / And fireleſs are the valleys far and wide, / Where the brook brawls along the painful road, / Dark with bat haunted aſhes ſtretching broad, [...]
4
To pour abuse on; to scold.
verb
1
To move to and fro, to quiver, to shake.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — a noisy fight in a crowd
verb — to quarrel noisily, angrily or disruptively
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
Three Ciuell brawles bred of an airie word, / By the old Capulet and Mountague, / Haue thrice diſturbd the quiet of our ſtreets.
Wiktionary02
The complaint charged that the defendants, on, etc., at, etc., "in a certain public place, to wit, in a certain school-house in which a singing-school was then and there being held, did make a great b
Wiktionary03
It has been reported that an entertainment took place not long ago in a certain "hot spot" in New York City, and it has been charged that members of the Federal Communications Commission were present;
Wiktionary04
I doe the wrong, and firſt began to braule / The ſecret miſchiefes that I ſet abroach, / I lay vnto the grieuous charge of others: [...]
Wiktionary05
Theſe are the deep and profound Myſteries of Artificial Logick, invented with ſo much care by theſe fallacious Doctors, [...] Theſe are the Nets, and theſe are the Hounds with which they hunt the Trut
Wiktionary06
As long as they [Xanthippe and Myrto, Socrates' wives] diſagreed, they were continually ſcolding, brawling, or fighting, with each other; and whenever they agreed, they both joined in brawling [verb s
WiktionaryUsage Notes
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