brasset
/ˈbɹæs.ət/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative form of brassard (“armour for the arm”).
Example Sentences
- "Under their veſts they had coats of mail and braſſets, and little morions in form of caps upon their heads, with viſors; and were perfectly well dreſſed […]"
- "Figure 21 is another defensive arm, consisting of a brasset, with its gantlet."
- "The duke rushed between them, and aimed a stroke at the assailant's helmet, who parried the blow; and the sabre, which had been directed against the Marshal de Rieux, fell on the arm of the Duke of Orleans. It pierced his brasset, and the blood flowed from the wound: his sword fell from his powerless grasp."
- "A breastplate; to which were generally added the gorget or collar around the throat, the back-piece, and brassets or sleeves, forming altogether a complete vest of steel covering the upper part of the body."
- "This object was a brasset of Milan, or, in less technical language, a long gauntlet, composed of the glove and wrist-plate, articulated together, and of the iron sheath intended to cover the fore-arm."
- "These brassets, truth to tell, May look uncommon well, But in a fight They're much too tight, They're like a lobster shell!"
Etymology
Attested since at least 1676 for arm-armour (see brassard). Application to helmets dates to at least the 1840s, of obscure origin, perhaps a misinterpretation: an early mention in Alphonso Wood's 1845 Class-book of Botany defines it broadly ("Eng. brasset signifies a helmet or target", i.e. shield), and around this time antiquarians spread mistaken definitions of several other armor terms (e.g. manefaire, passguard).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɹæs.ət/