bruit

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English bruit (“commotion, tumult; fame, renown; collective noun for a group of barons”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman brut (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour; collective noun for a group of barons”) and Old French bruit (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour”) (modern French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”)), a noun use of the past participle of bruire (“to make a noise; to rattle; to roar; to rustle”), from Late Latin brugere, an alteration of Latin rugīre (“to roar”) (the present active infinitive of rugiō (“to bray; to bellow, roar; to rumble”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“to belch; to roar”)), possibly influenced by Late Latin bragere (“to bray”). The English word is cognate with Catalan brogir (“to roar”); Old Occitan bruir, brugir (“to roar”). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (uncountable, archaic) Hearsay, rumour; talk; (countable) an instance of this.
   [R]ememberyng yoʳ accustumable proudent demeanoʳ as well in the atteyning assurid knowledge of the intended purpose of the Scotts, from tyme to tyme, by suche good esp'iell and intelligence that ye have had among the said Scotts, as of the bruits and newes occ'rant amongs them, it is the more mervailed, that if eyther any such attemptats have been made by the said Scotts upon the king's subjects, or that any such bruits be in Scotland of the said duke's thider comyng, that ye have not advertised the king's highnes or me thereof before this tyme; … a. 1531, John Galt, quoting Thomas Wolsey, “[Appendix. Book III.] No. V. The Copie of My Lord Cardinall’s L’res, Sent to the Lord Dacre of the Northe.”, in The Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey, London: […] T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, published 1812, →OCLC, page xxxii
   The bruits of a treaty between the United Provinces and the United States, are as true as moſt of the bruits. 7 November 1780, John Adams, “Letter XXXVI”, in Correspondence of the Late President Adams.[…], number 1, Boston, Mass.: […] Everett and Munroe,[…], published 1809, →OCLC, page 266
   And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, … 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., →OCLC, →OL
2. (countable, obsolete) A clamour, an outcry; a noise.
   [S]ome fresh bruit / Startled me all aheap!—and soon I saw / The horridest shape that ever raised my awe,— … 1827, Thomas Hood, “The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies”, in The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, Hero and Leander, Lycus the Centaur, and Other Poems, Philadelphia, Pa.: E[liakim] Littell,[…], and J. Grigg,[…], →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 6

verb

1. (transitive, archaic in Britain, current in the US) To disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.
   Generally, Whether there be … any that stubbornly refuse to conform themselves to unity and good religion: any that bruiteth abroad rumours of the alteration of the same, or otherwise that disturbeth good orders, and the quietnes of Christs Church and Christian congregation. a. 1576, Matthew Parker, John Strype, “[An Appendix to Archbishop Parker’s Life.] Number XI. Articles for the Dioceses, to be Inquired of in the Archbishop’s Metropolitical Visitation.”, in The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker, the First Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.[…], volume III, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1821, →OCLC, paragraph 22, page 32
   There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence. 1590, Thomas Hariot [i.e., Thomas Harriot], “To the Adventvrers, Favorers, and VVellvvillers of the Enterprise for the Inhabitting and Planting in Virginia”, in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia,[…], Frankfurt am Main: […] Ioannis Wecheli,[…], →OCLC; reprinted as Narrative of the First English Plantation of Virginia[…], London: Bernard Quaritch,[…], 1893, →OCLC, page 9
   Even his amours he bruits forth to the public, to the delight of every pot-boy. 1 September 1822, “Character of an Ex-sheriff”, in The Rambler’s Magazine; or, Fashionable Emporium of Polite Literature,[…], volume I, number IX, London: [William] Benbow,[…], →OCLC, page 413
   In course of time Ariston died; and Demaratus received the kingdom: but it was fated, as it seems, that these words, when bruited abroad, should strip him of his sovereignty. 1859, Herodotus, “The Sixth Book of the History of Herodotus, Entitled Erato”, in George Rawlinson, Henry Rawlinson, J[ohn] G[ardner] Wilkinson, transl., The History of Herodotus.[…] In Four Volumes, volume III, London: John Murray,[…], →OCLC, paragraph 64, page 458
   Thou art not ware, but thou art tossed on the tongues of all the city, casting away all shame, thou bruitest abroad thy deeds. 1914, Ovid, “The Amores.] Book the Third.”, in Grant Showerman, transl., edited by T[homas] E[thelbert] Page and W[illiam] H[enry] D[enham] Rouse, Heroides and Amores[…] (Loeb Classical Library; 41), London: William Heinemann; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section I, page 445
   TV news shows had been bruiting the Boulder case, too; as a result, the atmosphere in the press section that night was knife-keen. 1974, Marvin Kaye, chapter 20, in The Grand Ole Opry Murders (A Hilary Quayle Mystery; 2), London: Head of Zeus, published 2014
   Paranoid. Now he knew what it meant, this word that was bandied and bruited so easily, and he sensed the connections being made around him, … 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, published 2003, page 421
   [I]t's bruited that the tunnel would cost "10 to 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) more than the current high speed railway for each kilometer." Pony up, taxpayers! 4 August 2010, Darren Murph, “China’s Maglev Trains to Hit 1,000km/h in Three Years,[…]”, in Engadget, archived from the original on 2020-08-10
   Bruiting about this notion of a "monarchical project," the Englishman persuaded himself that [Simón] Bolívar himself aspired to such a model. 2013, Marie Arana, “Man of Difficulties”, in Bolívar: American Liberator, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, page 388

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”), from Old French bruit (“noise; sounds”); see further at etymology 1.

noun

1. (medicine) An abnormal sound in the body heard on auscultation (for example, through using a stethoscope); a murmur.
   Gentlemen,—At the close of my last lecture I asserted that the bruit of the heart does not reside in the organ itself, that is to say, is not produced by any mechanism in the interior of the heart, or by a concurrence of circumstances independent of the surrounding organs. I showed you this clearly in the heart of the swan, whose sternum we removed. Upon opening the pericardium and placing the ear close to the heart, or even employing the stethoscope, no bruit or sound of any kind was to be distinguished. 14 February 1835, F[rançois] Magendie, “Physiology. Lectures on the Physical Conditions of the Tissues of the Body, as Applied to the Explanation of the Vital Phenomena. […] Lecture XVIII.”, in Thomas Wakley, editor, The Lancet, volume I, number 598, London: […] Mills & Co.,[…], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 697, column 1
   Besides chlorosis, there are several analogous affections, especially such as proceed from large losses of blood, in which the arterial bruits are generally very distinctly perceptible. In all these cases the existence of the bruits coincides with a more than ordinary fulness of the pulse: when this ceases, the bruits become invariably less and less manifest. [Translated from the Archives Generales de Medecine.] 1 October 1838, “Researches on the Cause of the Abnormal Auscultatory Sounds in the Large Arteries, &c. By M. Beau.”, in James Johnson, Henry James Johnson, editors, The Medico-chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine, volume 29 (New Series), number 18, London: S. Highley,[…], →OCLC, page 572, column 1
   The bruit in the pulmonary artery is always accompanied by the jugular bruit. In cases where the mitral valve is affected, we are sure to meet with two other bruits: one of which is in the pulmonary artery, and the other in the jugular veins. [Summarized from the London Medical Record, 15 June 1879.] 1879 October, “The Seat of the So-called Anæmic Bruit of the Cardiac Base”, in I[saac] Minis Hays, editor, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, volume LXXVIII (New Series), number CLVI, Philadelphia, Pa.: Henry C[harles] Lea, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 565
   The recognition and designation of a murmur as functional is a frontal challenge, for there is no absolute means of proof. The bruit is located most commonly at the pulmonic area, is of faint intensity, and uniform pitch. 1953, William Likoff, John H. Davie, “The Normal Heart”, in Franklin C[arl] Massey, editor, Clinical Cardiology, Baltimore, Md.: The Williams & Wilkins Company, →OCLC, page 111
   Check for carotid bruits by listening to each carotid artery with a stethoscope. A bruit is a blowing or rushing sound that is created by the turbulence within the vessel. If a bruit is heard, do not perform this procedure. 2013, Barbara Aehlert, “Atrial Rhythms”, in ECGs Made Easy, 5th edition, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Mosby, page 117, column 1