bruit

noun

Examples: bruit in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of bruit

1 \ˈbrüt\ archaic

a : noise, din

b : report, rumor

2 \ˈbrü-ē\

[French, literally, noise]

: any of several generally abnormal sounds heard on auscultation

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Examples of bruit in a Sentence

a film that captures the thunderous fury of medieval warfare and the bruit of a thousand clashing swords

Origin and Etymology of bruit

Middle English, from Anglo-French, noise

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First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

bruit

verb \ ˈbrüt \

Definition of bruit

bruited; bruiting; bruits

transitive verb

: report, rumor —usually used with about

word of his imminent dismissal was bruited about

Recent Examples of bruit from the Web

All these measures have been bruited about by economists inside and outside the government since 2012, when GDP growth slowed to a crawl even with oil prices still around $100 a barrel.

— leon aron, National Review, "Vladimir Putin’s Wartime Presidency," 16 Feb. 2018
Normalization is a word much bruited about these days to describe the ways in which Americans have acceded to all sorts of indecent and dangerous phenomena since Trump launched his successful campaign for president more than two years ago.

— james kirchick, Slate Magazine, "Don’t Give Corbyn a Pass," 22 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bruit.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Back in the days of Middle English, the Anglo-French noun bruit, meaning "clamor" or "noise," rattled into English. Soon English speakers were also using it to mean "report" or "rumor" (it applied especially to favorable reports). We also began using "bruit" as a verb the way we used (and still occasionally do use) the verb "noise," with the meaning "to spread by rumor or report" (as in "the scandal was quickly noised about"). The English noun "bruit" is now considered archaic, but the verb lives on.