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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BRISKET, breaskit, brusket, n. [′brɪskɪt, ′brɪ̢skət, ′brʌskət]

1. The breast of human beings (Abd.9, Ags.1, Slg.3, Fif.10 1936). Lnl.1 1936 says: gen. used jocularly.Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxiii.:
Drive three inches of cauld airn into his breaskit.Ags. 1790 D. Morison Poems 15:
Doun through the fair wi' kilted coats, White legs an' briskets bare.Edb. 1772 R. Fergusson Sc. Poems (1925) 69:
You crack weel o' your lasses there, Their glancin een and brisket bare.

2. “It is used obliquely, and perhaps rather arbitrarily, for the stomach” (Sc. 1825 Jam.2).Slk. 1822 Hogg Perils of Man I. iv.:
Twa wanton glaikit gillies; . . . o'er muckle marth i' the back an' meldar i' the brusket.

[Phs. of the same origin as Fr. brechet, earlier brichet, bruchet, with similar meaning. Jam. suggests a derivation from O.N. brjosk, cartilage, as the breast is generally cartilaginous, and adds: “This seems to have been originally a term of venerie; as applied to the breast of a hart, when broken up.”]

4519

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