I. ˈbra-kət noun
Etymology: perhaps from Middle French braguette codpiece, from diminutive of brague breeches, from Old Occitan braga, from Latin braca, of Celtic origin — more at breech
Date: 1580
1. : an overhanging member that projects from a structure (as a wall) and is usually designed to support a vertical load or to strengthen an angle
2. : a fixture (as for holding a lamp) projecting from a wall or column
3.
a. : one of a pair of marks [ ] used in writing and printing to enclose matter or in mathematics and logic as signs of aggregation — called also square bracket
b. : one of the pair of marks <> used to enclose matter — called also angle bracket
c. : parenthesis 3
d. : brace 5b
4. : a section of a continuously numbered or graded series (as age ranges or income levels)
II. transitive verb
Date: circa 1847
1.
a. : to place within or as if within brackets
editorial comments are bracket ed
news stories bracket ed by commercials
b. : to eliminate from consideration
bracket off politics
c. : to extend around so as to encompass : include
test pressures…which bracket virtually the entire range of passenger-car tire pressures — Consumer Reports
2. : to furnish or fasten with brackets
3. : to put in the same category or group
bracket ed in a tie for third
4.
a. : to get the range on (a target) by firing over and short
there were mortar rounds bracket ing the area — Ed Bradley
b. : to establish the limits of
bracket ed the problem neatly
c. : to take photographs of at more than one exposure in order to ensure that the desired exposure is obtained