Brooks

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bɹʊks/

Definitions

1. Small, narrow bodies of flowing freshwater usually found in rural or natural areas ; to accept or endure something unpleasant or difficult without protest
2. Minor watercourses that gently flow through the landscape ; to put up with or bear an action or condition quietly
3. Natural channels of water smaller than rivers ; to tolerate or permit something, especially something disliked or unwelcome

Etymology: "Brooks" is a word with two unrelated ancestors that happen to share a spelling. The noun for a small stream comes from Old English "brōc," which belonged to the Proto-West Germanic *brōk, a word for a stream or torrent. Its verb sense, to put up with something unpleasant, descends from a different word entirely: Old English "brūcan," meaning "to enjoy, use, possess, partake of," and the same root reaches into German "brauchen" ("to need") and Dutch "bruiken" ("to use"). The two words diverged so completely that the verb's original meaning, "to enjoy" or "to make use of," has little in common with modern "to tolerate." The sense of putting up with something grew out of the notion of enjoying or having the use of something, and the negative turn came later, when the verb came to be used with a negative in sentences like "he would not brook interference."

Synonyms: streams, creeks, rivulets, watercourses

Antonyms: droughts, deserts