364 BRE 
To BRA'ZEN, v. n. To be impudent 5 to bull}'.—-When 
I reprimanded him for his tricks, he would talk faucily; 
lye, and brazen it out, as if he had done nothing amifs. 
A> but knot. 
BRA'ZEN DTSH, among miners, is the ftandard by 
which the other dirties are gauged, and is kept in the king^s 
liall. 
BR A'ZENFACE, f. [from brazen and face.'] An im¬ 
pudent wench : in low language.—Well laid, brazcnface ; 
hold it out. Shahefpeare. 
BRA'ZENFACED, adj. Impudent; fhamelefs: 
Quick-witted, brazenfac'd, with fluent tongues, 
Patient of labours, and diffembling wrongs, Drydcn. 
BRA'ZENNESS ,f. Appearance like brafs. Impudence. 
BRA'ZEN SEA, in jewirti antiquity, one of the facred 
utenlils in the temple of Solomon. It was caft in the plain 
of Jordan, and removed from thence into the inner court 
of the temple; where it was placed upon twelve oxen, 
three of which looked towards each quarter of the world. 
It was ten cubits from the one brim to the other, five cu¬ 
bits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference, and con¬ 
tained 3000 baths. The brim of it was perfectly round, 
and fo it continued in the two upper cubits ; but below 
the brim, in the ihree lower cubits, it was fquare. It was 
a hand-breadth thick, and the brim was wrought like the 
brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies. About the body 
of this mimenfe veflel there were two borders of engra¬ 
vings, being the. heads of oxen in demi-relief; out of 
which fome fuppofe the water iflued, and that they were 
made as cocks and conveyances for that purpofe. This 
brazen or molten fea, was deligned for the priefts to wafli 
the mi elves in before they performed the fervice of the 
. temple. The fupply of water was through a pipe out of 
the well Etam; though fome are of opinion, that it was 
conibuitly fupplied with water by the Gibeonites. 
BR A'ZIE.R,/! fee Brasier.— The halfpence and far¬ 
things in-Kngland, if you rtiould fell them to the brazier , 
von would not lofe above a penny in a (hilling. Swift. 
BRAZIL'. See Brasil.. 
BRA'ZING,/. the art of foldering or joining two pieces 
of iron together by means of thin plates of brafs, melted 
• between the pieces that are to be joined. If the work be 
very fine, as when two leaves of a broken faw are to be 
brazed together, they coyer it with pulverifed borax, 
melted with water, that it may incorporate with the brafs 
powder, which is added to it: the piece is then expofed 
to the fire without touching the coals, and heated till the 
•brafs is feen to run. 
BRAZ'ZA, an ifland in the Adriatic, about ten leagues 
long, and three broad, near the coaft of Dalmatia, Lat. 
43."4;. N. Ion. 34. 45. E. Ferro. 
BRE, a river of Denmark, which runs into.the North 
Sea: fix miles fouth-wefl: of Tondern. 
BREA, a final 1 ifland in the Pacific Ocean, near the 
weft coaft of North America. Lat, 16. 38. N. Ion. 81. 
15. W. Ferro. 
BREA HEAD, a cape on the fouth-weft coaft of Ire¬ 
land, in the county of Kerry. Lat. 51.5®. N. Ion. 10. 
16. W. Greenwich. 
BREACH,/, [from break-, breche, Ft\] The aCt of 
breaking any thing. The ftate of being broken : 
O you kind gods ! 
Cure this great breach in his abufed nature. Shahefpeare. 
A gap in a fortification made by a battery, or affault.— 
The wall was blown up in two places; by which breach 
the Turks fee-king to have entered, made bloody figlu. 
Knollcs. —The violation of a law or contract.'— Breach of 
duty towards our neighbours, Hill involves in it a breach 
of duty towards God. South. —The opening in a coaft : 
But tli’ heedful boatman ftrongly forth did ftretch 
His brawny arms, and all his body drain ; 
That tli’ utnioft fandy breach they fliortly fetch 
While the dread danger does behind remain. Spcnfer, 
BRE 
Difference-; quarrel; reparation of kindnefs; infraction- 
injury.—This breach upon kingly power was without pre¬ 
cedent. Clarendon. 
BREAD, f. [bread or breod, of bredan, Sax. to nourifti, 
broedt, Du. O. and L. Ger. brodt, II. Ger. bredh, Su. or of 
(Sgurov, Gr. food. ] Food made of ground corn: 
Bread, that decaying man with ftrengih fupplies; 
And generous wine, which thoughtful forrow flics. Pope. 
Food in general, fuch as nature requires; to get bread, im¬ 
plies, to get fufticient for fupport without luxury. — In the 
Iweat of thy face (halt thou eat bread. Genefis .—Support 
of life at large.—God is pleafed to try our patience by the 
ingratitude of thofe who, having eaten of owe bread, lift 
up t'hemfelves againft us. King Charles. 
To the fortunate invention of raffing the pafte before 
baking, we owe the perfection of the art of making bread. 
This operation confifis in keeping fome pafte or dough, 
till, by a peculiar fpirituous fermentation, it fwells, rarefies, 
and acquires a fniell and tafte quick, pungent, fpirituous, 
fomewliat four, and rather difagreeabie. This fermented 
dough is well worked with fome frefh dough, which is by 
that mixture and moderate heat difpofed to a limilar but 
lefs advanced ftate of fermentation. By this fermentation 
the dough is attenuated, and divided; air is introduced 
into it, which, being incapable of aifengaging itfelf from 
the tenacious and folid pafte, forms in it fmall cavities, 
which raifes and fwells it: hence the fmall quantity of fer¬ 
mented pafte, which difpofes the reft to ferment, is called 
leaven, from the French word lever, fignifying ‘ to raife.’ 
When the dough is thus raifed, it is in a proper ftate to be 
put into the oven ; where, while it is baked, it dilates it¬ 
felf (till more by the rarefaction of the air, and of the fpi¬ 
rituous fubftance it contains, and it forms a bread full of 
eyes or cavities, confequently light, and entirely different 
from the heavy, compaCt, vifeous, and indigefted, mafles 
made by baking unfermented dough. 
The firft approaches towards the making of bread con¬ 
fided in parching the corn, either for immediate life as 
food, or previous to its trituration into meal ; or elfe in 
baking the flour into unleavened bread, or boiling it into 
mafles more or lefs confident; of all which vve have re¬ 
peated indications in the hiftories of the earlier nations, as 
well as in the various practices of the moderns. It ap¬ 
pears likewife from the feriptures, that the praCtice of ma¬ 
king leavened bread is of very confiderable antiquity, tho’ 
the addition of yeaft, or the vinous ferment, is only of mo¬ 
dern date. 
The invention of beer furniftied a new and valuable 
auxiliary in the art of making Fermented bread, by means 
of the yeaft or barm ; whence the fineft and lighted bread 
is now made. It often happens, that bread made with 
leaven dough lias a fourifh and not very agreeable tafte; 
which may proceed from too great a quantity of leaven, 
or from leaven in which the fermentation has advanced 
too far. This inconvenience does not happen to bread 
made with yeaft ; becaufe the fermentation of this fub¬ 
ftance is not too far advanced. Bread properly raifed and 
well baked differs from unfermented bread, not only in 
being lefs compaft, lighter, and of a more agreeable tafte, 
but alfo in being more eafily mifcjble with water, with 
which it does not form a vifeous mafs, which circumftance 
is of great importance in digeftion. 
It is obfervable, that without bread, or fome fubftitute 
for it, no nation feems to live. Thus the Laplanders, ha¬ 
ving no corn, make a fort of bread of their dried fifties, 
and of the inner rind of the pine, which feems to beufed, 
not fo much for their nourilhment, as for fupplying a dry 
food. For this mankind feem to have an univerfal appe¬ 
tite, rejecting bland, flippery, and mucilaginous, foods. 
This is not commonly accounted for, but feems to depend 
on very Ample principles. The. preparation of our food, 
as Dr. Cullen obferves, depends on the mixture of the 
animal fluids in every (tage. Among others the faliva is 
necelfiiry, which requires dry food asaftimulus to draw it 
forth; 
