brute

Etymology 1

From Middle French brut, from Old French brut, from Latin brūtus (“dull, stupid, insensible”), an Oscan loanword, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús), Persian گران (gerân) and Sanskrit गुरु (gurú) (English guru).

adj

1. Without reason or intelligence (of animals).
   a brute beast
2. Characteristic of unthinking animals; senseless, unreasoning (of humans).
3. Unconnected with intelligence or thought; purely material, senseless.
   the brute earth; the brute powers of nature
4. Crude, unpolished.
5. Strong, blunt, and spontaneous.
   I punched him with brute force.
6. Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless.
   brute violence

noun

1. (archaic) An animal seen as being without human reason; a senseless beast.
   they laid before them how unbecoming it was the Dignity of such sublime Creatures to be sollicitous about gratifying those Appetites, which they had in common with Brutes, and at the same time unmindful of those higher qualities that gave them the preeminence over all visible Beings. 1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees
   But if he lives badly, he will, in the next life, be a woman; if he (or she) persists in evil-doing, he (or she) will become a brute, and go on through transmigrations until at last reason conquers. 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.17
2. A person with the characteristics of an unthinking animal; a coarse or brutal person.
   One of them was a hulking brute of a man, heavily tattooed and with a hardened face that practically screamed "I just got out of jail."
3. (film, television) A kind of powerful spotlight.
   For a scene like the Highgate exhumation night sequence suitable equipment would consist of: two brutes on Molevators, three 10 K lights also on Molevators and, for good measure, two 5 Ks, four 2 Ks, two pups (1000 W), two North lights […] 1976, A. Arthur Englander, Paul Petzold, Filming for Television, page 191
   At the other extreme, with limitless budgets all they have to do is dream up amazing lighting rigs to be constructed and operated by the huge team of gaffers and sparks, with their generators, discharge lights, flags, gobos and brutes. 1999, Des Lyver, Graham Swainson, Basics of Video Lighting, page 103
4. (archaic, UK, Cambridge University slang) One who has not yet matriculated.

verb

1. (transitive) To shape (diamonds) by grinding them against each other.

Etymology 2

verb

1. Obsolete spelling of bruit