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Brook

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brook¹

  • /bɹʊk/ Australia, US, UK
  • /bɹɵk/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /bɾʊk/ Wales
  • /bɾʉk/ Scotland
  • /bɹʉk/ Northern Ireland
  • /bɹuːk/ obsolete

Rhymes with -ʊk

Where it comes from

From Middle English brouken (“to use, enjoy”), from Old English brūcan (“to enjoy, brook, use, possess, partake of, spend”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūkan, from Proto-Germanic *brūkaną (“to enjoy, use”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to enjoy”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian bruke (“to need”), Dutch bruiken (“to use”), German Low German bruken (“to need”), German brauchen (“to need”), Swedish bruka (“to use”), Icelandic brúka (“to use”).

verb brooks · brooking · brooked

  1. formal, transitive To bear; endure; support; put up with; tolerate. brook no refusal
  2. transitive To enjoy the use of; make use of; profit by; to use, enjoy, possess, or hold. Yea, my Lord: how brooks your Grace the ayre, / After your late toſſing on the breaking Seas?
  3. obsolete, transitive To earn; deserve.

brook²

  • /bɹʊk/ Australia, US, UK
  • /bɹɵk/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /bɾʊk/ Wales
  • /bɾʉk/ Scotland
  • /bɹʉk/ Northern Ireland
  • /bɹuːk/ obsolete

Rhymes with -ʊk

Where it comes from

From Middle English brook, from Old English brōc (“brook; stream; torrent”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōk (“stream”).

noun brooks

  1. Northeastern, US A body of running water smaller than a river; a small stream. empties itself, as doth an inland brook / into the main of waters
  2. Kent A water meadow, or (in the plural) low, marshy ground.

Brook³

  • /bɹʊk/ Australia, US, UK
  • /bɹɵk/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /bɾʊk/ Wales
  • /bɾʉk/ Scotland
  • /bɹʉk/ Northern Ireland
  • /bɹuːk/ obsolete

Rhymes with -ʊk

Where it comes from

* As an English surname, from the noun brook.

* As a north German surname, from Low German Brook (“swamp, marsh”), related to the above.

* As a Dutch surname, Americanized from Broek, from broek, also related to the above.

* As a Jewish and German surname, Americanized from Bruck, Bruch (from Bruch (“wetland, marsh”)).

proper noun Brooke · Brooks

  1. A habitational surname from Middle English for someone living by a brook.
  2. A surname from Hebrew, a transliteration and normalization of Hebrew ברך (barúkh, “blessed”).
  3. A male given name transferred from the surname, variant of Brooks.
  4. A female given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage, variant of Brooke.
  5. A town in Newton County, Indiana, United States.
  6. A hamlet in Tedburn St Mary parish, Teignbridge district, Devon, divided into Higher and Lower Brook (OS grid ref SX8091).
  7. A hamlet in Tavistock parish, West Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref SX4772).
  8. A hamlet in Bramshaw parish, New Forest district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU2714).
  9. A hamlet in King's Somborne parish, Test Valley district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU3428).
  10. A village in Brighstone parish, Isle of Wight (OS grid ref SZ3983).
  11. A village and civil parish in Ashford borough, Kent (OS grid ref TR0644).
  12. A hamlet in Albury parish, Guildford borough, Surrey (OS grid ref TQ0646).
  13. A hamlet in Witley parish, Waverley borough, Surrey (OS grid ref SU9338).
  14. A hamlet in Llanddowror community, Carmarthenshire, Wales (OS grid ref SN2609).

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