Brand (&?;), n. [OE. brand,
brond, AS. brand brond brand, sword, from byrnan,
beornan, to burn; akin to D., Dan., Sw., & G. brand brand,
Icel. brandr a brand, blade of a sword. √32. See Burn,
v. t., and cf. Brandish.] 1.
A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt,
whether burning or after the fire is extinct.
Snatching a live brand from a wigwam, Mason threw it
on a matted roof.
Palfrey.
2. A sword, so called from its glittering or
flashing brightness. [Poetic] Tennyson.
Paradise, so late their happy seat,
Waved over by that flaming brand.
Milton.
3. A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon
a cask, to designate the quality, manufacturer, etc., of the contents, or
upon an animal, to designate ownership; -- also, a mark for a similar
purpose made in any other way, as with a stencil. Hence, figurately:
Quality; kind; grade; as, a good brand of flour.
4. A mark put upon criminals with a hot iron.
Hence: Any mark of infamy or vice; a stigma.
The brand of private vice.
Channing.
5. An instrument to brand with; a branding
iron.
6. (Bot.) Any minute fungus which produces a
burnt appearance in plants. The brands are of many species and several
genera of the order Pucciniæi.
Brand (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Branded; p. pr. & vb. n.
Branding.]. 1. To burn a distinctive mark into
or upon with a hot iron, to indicate quality, ownership, etc., or to mark
as infamous (as a convict).
2. To put an actual distinctive mark upon in any
other way, as with a stencil, to show quality of contents, name of
manufacture, etc.
3. Fig.: To fix a mark of infamy, or a stigma,
upon.
The Inquisition branded its victims with infamy.
Prescott.
There were the enormities, branded and condemned by
the first and most natural verdict of common humanity.
South.
4. To mark or impress indelibly, as with a hot
iron.
As if it were branded on my mind.
Geo. Eliot.
