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A frame suspended from the ceiling, with horizontal wooden bars on which haverbread was hung to dry.
dates 1682 1713 1739

Distinct from a baker, a person who sold bread.
dates 1463 1475-1476 1700

spellings breast wall
A solid wall built to retain a bank of earth.
dates 1600 1687 1699

Uncertain meaning.
places Huntington
dates 1613

spellings breek
Breeches are known as an article of clothing which covers the loins and thighs, but the singular was used for the rump, either of animals or humans.
dates 1642 1697

The verb to breed has developed numerous shades of meaning but is most commonly used to describe the bringing forth of offspring, the propagation of the species.
dates 1570 1615 1651 1735

Possibly extinguished, half-burned coal, from Old French ‘brese’ (OED).
places York
dates 1371

Wright has ‘brairding’ for the first growth of plants (EDD).
places Scruton
dates 1542

spellings brend brent brint
Spellings of burn, burned and burnt.
dates 1308 1337-1338 1432 1507-1508 1514 1540

From ‘brier-ball’ which may have been a gall found on rose-bushes.
dates 1528 1543 1560

spellings brew lead
A leaden vessel used in brewing.
dates 1362 1369 1417 1430 1444

A traditional dish, treated as a plural like porridge.
dates 1394-1395 1789

Here, probably a very early spelling of ‘bruse’, that is twigs or small branches suitable for firewood or animal fodder.
places Stanley
dates 1433

A word found occasionally in clothiers’ inventories from the seventeenth century. It is a short length of cloth, sometimes a piece cut off because it is damaged (EDD).
dates 1618 1678

A building material formed of clay, moulded and baked in a kiln.
dates 1426 1531 1535 1590 1694 1739

Officer employed to operate the draw-bridge. They were nominated and appointed by the surveyor.
places Whitby
dates 1658

Very rare word, meaning uncertain.
dates 1538-1539

A house situated by or close to a bridge.
places Wakefield
dates 1683 1701

spellings brig-stone
It was not unusual formerly for rainwater to be drained from a town street via a channel that ran between the pavement and the entrances to the houses. The stone across the channel was called a bridge-stone.
dates 1619 1629 1639 1667 1675 1690 1697 1714 1759

Occupational term for the maker of bridles.
places Beverley Ripon
dates 1549 1601

This was the usual word in Yorkshire for a bridle-path or bridle-way.
dates 1515 1573 1675 1676 1687 1705

A bridge on a bridle-way.
dates 1688 1715

spellings briar
Although used of the wild rose this word had the more general meaning ‘prickly, thorny bush’ and it is particularly common in minor place-names.
dates 1253 1275 1580 1600

spellings brier crook
An implement for dealing with briers.
dates 1556 1568 1690

spellings brigandine
Body armour for a foot-soldier, possibly in two halves, so sometimes a plural.
dates 1420 1453 1455 1459 1477 1499

Nails used in the making of brigandines.
places Hull
dates 1453 1489-1490

This is the northern form of ‘bridge’ and it is found as an element in minor place-names from the twelfth century.
dates 1422 1442

An iron frame, often hinged, which was set over the fire to support pots and pans (YRS134/165).
dates 1520 1550 1611 1657

Found only as a by-name.
places Wakefield
dates 1298 1316

A term noted in 1835 for a vertical fissure or fracture in a seam of coal.
dates 1835

spellings bridgemaster
This is the north-country form of bridgemaster, the term for an officer within a borough who had responsible for raising the money needed to maintain a particular bridge: he may have shared the office with others.
dates 1453 1478 1554 1656

It was not unusual for a plank to be placed across a ditch or gutter to serve as a bridge.
places Reeth Methley
dates 1469 1509 1543 1590

An alternative spelling of branded.
dates 1544 1757

The ceremonies associated with taking the coffin to and from the church.
dates 1524 1527 1581

Raising or building.
places Kirkstall
dates 1616

spellings bresell cloth
Used of a kind of material, described as 'fine' but of uncertain meaning:
dates 1537 1542

Usually ‘lively’, with regard to movement.
places Cononley
dates 1686

A skewer, spit, or pointed instrument more generally.
dates 1537 1568 1614

One explanation of this word is that it was ‘to pick, indent, or furrow the surface of stone with a narrow-pointed stone-chisel called a broach’.

spellings board axe
An axe with a broad head, or alternatively, a kind of adze.
places York Harome
dates 1394 1400 1471 1505

A rare term, with an apparently straightforward meaning.
places Ripon
dates 1668

One of several words for a badger.
dates 1556 1651 1675

A stag in its second year, with its first horns which are straight, like daggers (OED).
dates 1390 1497 1534

spellings brog (1)
A round-headed nail made by blacksmiths (OED).
dates 1309 1371 1399 1444 1548 1559

This word is absent from the OED but it is the feminine form of ‘broder’ or ‘broderer’ and referred to an embroiderer.
places York Kirkheaton
dates 1376 1396 1727

A dialect word for brushwood used as animal fodder.
dates 1524 1526 1548 1646

spellings brogger
An alternative form of ‘broker’ as both a verb and noun, noted in York in particular.
places York
dates 1334 1428 1484 1502-1503

The verb ‘to brog’ has a number of meanings and the OED has a late reference to ‘fishing for eels, called brogging’.
places Golcar
dates 1661-1663

spellings broiling iron
To broil meat was to expose it to scorching heat, in contrast to roasting it which is a slower process in moderate heat.
dates 1542 1562 1610 1623 1696

In a rare use of this word an article was described as ‘broken’ when it was in its constituent parts and not damaged. It referred therefore to carts that were taken to pieces and stored under cover through the winter.
dates 1554 1686 1687 1748

spellings brockt broke
Uncertain meaning; to do with the face of an animal.
dates 1533 1560 1577 1580 1665

The common and attractive shrub which provided the twigs used formerly to make a sweeping brush.
dates 1570 1580 1610 1671

Shaken refuse corn, or short broken straw (EDD).
places Selby
dates 1420-1421

Literally ‘brown mixed’, since the suffix here is ‘mellay’ meaning mixed colours.
places Emley Halifax
dates 1348 1537

Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0