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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BREE, n.³ See Broo, n.², 1. [bri:]

†1. The eyebrow, in phr. to move neither ee (eye) nor bree, to remain absolutely motionless.n.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
“Ee nor bree,” is still a proverbial phrase. “He moved neither ee nor bree ony mair than he had been dead.”Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 67:
Now they conclude, that here their truff maun be, An' lay stane still, not mooving eye nor bree.Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas, etc. 32:
[I'll] ne'er move e'e nor bree' [sic].

2. The brow, forehead (Fif.¹ 1935).Sc. after 1715 White Cockade in Jacobite Minstrelsy (1829) 111:
But aye the thing that blinds my e'e Is the white cockade aboon the bree.Sc. 1887 R. L. Stevenson Underwoods 127:
An' whiles the bluid spangs to my bree, To lie sae saft, to live sae free.Sc. 1930 J. G. Horne in Glasgow Herald (4 Feb.) 8/9:
Reid as the tod an' shaggëd to the bree, Bauchlt an' barefit, deil-ma-care an' free.Per. a.1860 W. Wilson in Harp of Perthsh. (ed. Ford 1893) 164:
Wi' bonnet sae vaunty, an' owerlay sae clean, An' ribbon that waved 'boon his bree.Ayr. 1845 J. Cameron in Ayrshire Wreath (ed. R. Crawford) 138:
A bonnie Ayrshire lassie's bree.

3. The rim or upper edge of anything, in quot. of a mill-trough. Ags. 1795 Session Papers, Arbuthnott v. Scott (11 March) 267:
It is simply impossible that the wheel can strike the bree, the breast, and the bottom of the pot.

4. The top or ribbed edge of a sock or stocking. Inv. 1949:
I don't want the plain stocking, I want them with brees.