Bregden

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To move with a sudden start or jerk ; to pull out and wave a blade or weapon ; to interlace strands together into a braid or plait
2. To flinch or start up abruptly ; to snatch out and flourish a sword or similar weapon ; to twist threads or hair together in a woven pattern
3. A sudden jolt or startled movement ; an act of drawing a weapon into the open ; the process of intertwining strands into a plait

Etymology: Bregden is a Scots and northern English verb meaning to start or flinch suddenly with fright, and it is related to "braid" and "brede" in the sense of a sudden movement or start. Its roots lie in Old English "bregdan," meaning "to move quickly, to brandish, to weave, to turn," a verb with a broad range of senses from pulling a sword to shifting direction. The English form "braid," meaning to interweave strands, descends from the same Old English verb, which explains why a word for weaving and a word for flinching share an ancestor. The sense of sudden movement is the thread connecting them. "Bregden" kept the physical idea of a quick jerk or swerve, and in Scots it narrowed to the startled reaction a person or animal makes at an unexpected sound or sight. The word appears in Scots literature and dialect records, where it describes a horse shying or a person jumping at a noise.