BRA 



BRA 



b'oi-ks, at th<r ends of the yard?, or at 'pendants ftlzed to 

 the yard-arm. The brnces of the top-galUnt, and fprit-fail 

 ttip-fail yards, are fingie. 



BRACED, in I/:ral(fry, is uffd in fpeaking of clievro- 

 Tieh which are i:itcrming!i-d. He bears azure a chief or, 

 and three clievronels ha.-ed, in the bafe of the cfcuttheoii, 

 by the name of Fitz-Htigi. See Brazed. 



BRACELET, an ornament ulually worn round tlic 

 wrift. The word is French, IraceUt ; which Menage de- 

 rives farther from Iraceletum, a diminutive of br,icile, a word 

 occarring in writers of the Juilinian age ; all formed from 

 the Latin brachium, arm. It amounts to the fame with 

 what was called by the ancients, arm'iUa, brachiak, occalus ; 

 in the middle age, boga, baiiga, arm'ijpatha. 



Among tlie ancient Romans, the men as well as the wo- 

 men, wore bracelfts ; but the latter, it is to be obferved, 

 never wore them till they were betrothed. 



In the times to which the Scripture hillory refers us, the 

 bracelet ieems to have been an enfign of royalty; and this 

 accounts for Saul's wearing this ornament at the time of his 

 death, and alfo for the Amalekite's bringing the bracelet 

 which he found on Saul's arm, together with his crown, to 

 David, a Sam. i. lo. It is well known, that the bracelet 

 has been in much later times ufed in the Eaft as a badge of 

 power. D'Herbelot informs us, that when the caliph 

 Caieni Bemrillah granted the inveftiture of certain domrniona 

 to an eallern prince, which his predeceflors had polTtfrtd, and 

 among the reft of the city of Bagdad itfelf, this cere- 

 mony of invtititure was performed by the cnliph's fending 

 him letters patent, a crown, a chain, and bracelets. Al. 

 though Grotius, referring to Num. xxxi. 50. obferves, that 

 the bracelet was an ornament ufed by the men as well as 

 women of thofe nations ; yet it does not feem to have been 

 fo common as fome writers have fuppofed : for though the 

 word bracelet frequently occurs in our tranflation, the ori- 

 ginal word in this text is found only in two other places ; 

 and as the children of Ifi-ael found one or more of thcfe 

 bracelets among the fpoils of Midian, fo they killed, at the 

 fame time, five of their kings. Num. xxxi. 8. In the other 

 paffage. If. iii. 20. mention is made of female ornaments ; 

 but allowing the word to be the fame, might not the women 

 ot that age wear an ornament which, from its hkencfs to 

 one of the enfigns of royalty, might be called by the fame 

 name. We read in Gen. xxiv. 22. that the bracelets of 

 Rebekah weighed ten fhekels, or about five ounces ; a weight 

 which fome have thought to be very extraordinary. But 

 Sir John Chardin alTures us, that ornaments as heavy, and 

 even heavier, were worn by women of the Eaft when he 

 was there. He fays, with a reference to the ornaments of 

 Rebekah, that " the women wear rings and bracelets of as 

 great weight, through all Afia, and fuch as are much hea- 

 vier. They are rather manacles than bracelets. There are 

 fome as large as the finger ; the women wear feveral of them, 

 cue above the other, in fuch a manner as fometimes to have 

 the arm covered with them from the wrift to the elbow. 

 Poor people wear as many of glafs, or horn. They hardly 

 ever take them off; they are their riches." 



Bracelets were at firll properly military ornaments or re- 

 wards, frequently conferred among the ancients, by generals 

 and princes, on thofe who behaved gallantly in iight. They 

 became afterwards arbitrary decorations, atfumed at plea- 

 furc ; and are fometimes faid. to have been worn for health 

 as well as ornament ; and particularly as amulets, to breaii 

 the force of charms and fafcinatioiis. Amoug the Romans 

 we meet with divers fpecies and denominations of bracelett ; 

 as the brachiak, which covered the whole length of the arm ; 

 the dextrale, or dcxtrgcheritim, only the wrilt, and that only 



of the right arm ; ilr'ia, o-r z'.r'nli, pecuii.ir to the mule frt ; 

 fpiiill.\r, to the women, being worn on the left arm ; itrihi, 

 ufed as an amulet ; amphidlcn, worn cither on the aim, or 

 about the neck ; ca'l/tum, or galhtum, worn by generals in 

 their triumphs. Pitilc. I.ex. Ant. torn. i. Jc ii. Du-Cange. 

 Gloff. I>at. tom. i. i%: ii. Kennet. Rom. Ant. Not. P. If. 

 lib. iv. cap. J 6. 



Bartholin has a trcatife on the bracelets of the ancier.to. 

 The northern people ufed alfo to fwcar on their bracelets, 

 to render coiitrafts more inviolable. 



Bracelets are (till much uLd by the favages of Africa and 

 America, made of metal, glafs-beads, (bells, and the liki . 

 In civilized countries they form a comman part of the orna- 

 ment of the ladies. 



Bkacelet is alfo ufed, m ^Inatomy, to de.iote the circu- 

 lar ligament which invcfts the carpus, called alfo ligamcntum 

 annular!. 



Bracelets, in fome Ancient Lata Books, denote beagles, 

 or hounds of the fmaller kind. 



BRACES, in Giogritphy, are two fand-banko lying aci-ofs 

 the entrance into the channtls for the i-iver Hughly, at the 

 bottom of the bay of Bengal. 



Braces, in Ship building, that fccurity to the rudder 

 which is fixed to the Hern poll, and bottom of the rtiip, and 

 to which the rudder is hung. 



Braces of (2 cojch, denote the tliick and ftrong flraps of 

 leather on which it hangs. 



BRACHERIUM, or Bracheriolum, a kind of fteci 

 bandage worn about the hips, and ufed for tiie retention and. 

 cure of ruptures. Du-Cange Glofl'. Lat. 



BRACHIjEUS, or Brachialis, inUrnus, mufculas, in 

 Anatamy, is the deeper fituated flexor of the elbow joint. It 

 arilcs flefhy from the middle of the os brachii, and from all 

 the lower and fore part of the bone. It palfts over the 

 joint, and adheres firmly to the ligameni. It is infcrt.d by 

 a ftrong fhort tendon into the coronoid jjrocefs of the ulna. 

 Its ufe is to bend the fore arm, and to prevent the capfulc of 

 the joint from being pinched. 



BRACHIAL na-ccs. See Nerves. 

 BRACHIALIS, coraco. See Coraco-Brachialts. 

 BRACHIATE, in Bolany, a term applied to branches 

 when they grow oppofitc to each other-, one on each fide 

 of the ftem, and when each pair points in a different direc- 

 tion, fo as to make a right angle with the pair above or be- 

 low it. 



BRACHIOBOLUS, a name given by Allioni to a- ge* 

 nus of plants formed for fuch fpecies of filymbrium as have 

 a fhort filique. It corrcfponds with Haller's radicula. See 

 Sisymbrium. 



BRACHION, in Ancient Ceographyr Gcrba^ an ifland 

 in the Mediterranean fea, fituate on the coafl of Africa, 1 1 

 leagues S. E. of Tacape. Scylax. 



BRACHIONUS, in Zoology, a genus of Vnrmes infufo- 

 ri,t, having the body contratlile, covered with a fhtll,' and 

 furnifhed with ciliate rotatory organs at the head. The 

 fpecies of this genus LinniEus includes m his genus Vorti- 

 cAld, from which they are difliuguilhed by modern natural- 

 i;ts by the (helly covering of the body ; the vorticcUs being- 

 deftitute of a (hell. ,^ 



The fpecies of this genus are urceolaris, patella, Jlriatus, 

 ciri'atus, tripus, uncinatns, inucronatus, cernuus, calyciflo- 

 rus, tuhifex, quadridentJitus, and patina, whicli fee. 



BRACHITyE, in F.cchfiajYual Hijlory, a branch of 

 Manichees, who appeared in the third century. 



BRACHIUM, the arw, 'm Anatomy, is thnt part of the 

 upper extremity which intervsnej betVTcen l)j£ joints of the 

 (huiilder and elbcw, 



BsACKivM,, 



