Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small wild goose (Branta bernicla) that breeds in Arctic regions and has a black neck and head.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Steep; precipitous.
  • noun Same as brent-goose.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A species of wild goose (Branta bernicla) -- called also brent and brand goose. The name is also applied to other related species.
  • adjective Prov. Eng. Steep.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective dialectal Steep, precipitous.
  • noun Any of several wild geese, of the genus Branta, that breed in the Arctic, but especially the brent goose, Branta bernicla.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small dark geese that breed in the north and migrate southward

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Variant of brent(-goose), possibly from Middle English brende, brindled; see brindled.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old EnglishOld English brant. Cognate with Scots brent, Icelandic brattr.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin uncertain but similar to Old Norse brandgas (sheldrake).

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Examples

  • "Yes," they replied, at once; for the brant is a bird of a very obliging disposition.

    The Indian Fairy Book From the Original Legends Cornelius Mathews 1853

  • a part of their wings black and much larger than the Grey brant which is a Sise larger than a Duck.

    The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 Meriwether Lewis 1791

  • Written questions are welcome at any time before the meeting, please submit to brant. petrick@gsa.gov.

    Discourse.net: Privacy Event I'm Going To Miss 2009

  • Etymology: Middle English braundisshen, from Anglo-French brandiss-, stem of brandir, from brant, braund sword, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English brand

    The Volokh Conspiracy » More on gun registration, and guns at POTUS speeches: 2009

  • Bird Hunting alaska pintail brant wigeon scaup canada geese snow geese greater white-fronted geese tundra swan photos gallery teshekpuk big oil company

    The Ducks of Teshekpuk Lake 2007

  • This is particularly true of the Teshekpuk Lake area, where many thousands of birds, including spectacled eiders, yellow-billed loons, snow geese, Pacific black brant, and tundra swans, all nest and in some cases take advantage of the area's remoteness to molt.

    The Flight Steve Ersinghaus 2009

  • I saw the usual assortment of indistinguishable scoters, some oldsquaws, a small flock of brant, and a northern gannet.

    Archive 2009-04-01 2009

  • I saw the usual assortment of indistinguishable scoters, some oldsquaws, a small flock of brant, and a northern gannet.

    crazy? 2009

  • Yesterday's birding at Colt State Park in Rhode Island yielded two sure signs of winter: horned larks and brant.

    still here 2008

  • Yesterday's birding at Colt State Park in Rhode Island yielded two sure signs of winter: horned larks and brant.

    Archive 2008-01-01 2008

Comments

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  • but not this year

    September 21, 2009

  • Steep. a brant hill. Northumbrian provincial term recorded in Grose's A Provincial Glossary, 1787.

    May 5, 2011