brian

Etymology

From dialectal English, probably variant of brine (“to burn”), from brine (“a burning”), from Middle English brüne (“a burn, a burning”), from Old English bryne (“a burning, conflagration, fire, flame, heat, inflammation, burn, scald, torch, fervor, passion”), from Proto-Germanic *bruniz (“fire, burning”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“burn, fire”). Cognate with Scots brin (“a flash”), Scots brin, bryne (“to be on fire, be inflamed, burn”), Old Norse bruni (“fire, burning”). More at burn.

Verb

brian (third-person singular simple present brians, present participle brianing, simple past and past participle brianed)

1. (dialectal, Northern England) To keep fire at the mouth of (as of an oven), to give light or to preserve heat.

Anagrams

• Brain, Rabin, abrin, bairn, brain