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Glite Dictionary
🪖 A punishment device 🪖 To punish by device
brank

brank

1 9.9
A metal frame put on the head to stop someone speaking
  • noun
  • /bræŋk/
  • NSFW
: brida de escoldra
  • In the 1600s, women accused of gossiping were often forced to wear a brank to silence them.

Examples

  • The town's authorities decided to display the brank in the square as a reminder of past punishments.

  • When the historian explained the brank, the audience gasped at the cruel method of enforcing silence.

  • I'm brother Brank.

    Hellraiser (1987)

Antonyms

freedom
∞ 1.0

The right to act, speak, or think as you want without being stopped

liberation
140 3.9

The act of setting people free from control or unfair treatment

Surface Forms

brank singular
branks plural

Etymology

Brank comes from an old term for a bridle or 'bit' used on animals, because the device acted like a metal mouthpiece that stopped a person from speaking. So a brank was a cruel tool put on the head to punish and silence people.