BRAN

bran, the ground husk of wheat, oats, barley or other cereals, used for feeding cattle, packing and other purposes (see flour). the word occurs in french _bren_ or _bran_, in the dialects of other romanic languages, and also in celtic, cf. breton _brenn_, gaelic _bran_. the _new english dictionary_ considers these celtic forms to be borrowed from french or english. in modern french _bren_ means filth, refuse, and this points to some connexion with celtic words, e.g. irish _brean_, manure. if so, the original meaning would be refuse. "bran-new," i.e. quite new, is now the common form of "brand-new," that which is fresh from the "brand," the branding-iron used for marking objects, &c. branch (from the fr. _branche_, late lat. _branca_, an animal's paw), a limb of a tree; hence any offshoot, e.g. of a river, railway, &c., of a deer's antlers, of a family or genealogical tree, and generally a subdivision or department, as in "a branch of learning." the phrase, to destroy "root and branch," meaning to destroy utterly, taken originally from malachi iv. 1, was made famous in 1641 by the so-called "root and branch" bill and petition for the abolition of episcopal government, in which petition occurred the sentence, "that the said government, with all its dependencies, roots and branches, be destroyed." among technical senses of the word "branch" are: the certificate of proficiency given to pilots by trinity house; and in siege-craft a length of trench forming part of a zigzag approach.