/ brænd; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
a type of product made by a particular company :
Which brand of toothpaste do you use?
( BrE )
You pay less for the supermarket's own brand .
( NAmE )
You pay less for the store brand .
brand loyalty (= the tendency of customers to continue buying the same brand)
Champagne houses owe their success to brand image .
the leading brand of detergent
—see also own-brand
2.
a particular type or kind of sth :
an unorthodox brand of humour
3.
a mark made with a piece of hot metal, especially on farm animals to show who owns them
■ verb [ often passive ]
1.
brand sb (as) sth to describe sb as being sth bad or unpleasant, especially unfairly :
[ vn ]
They were branded as liars and cheats.
[ vn - n ]
The newspapers branded her a hypocrite.
[also vn - adj ]
2.
[ vn ] brand sth (with sth) to mark an animal with a brand noun (3) to show who owns it
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English brand burning , of Germanic origin; related to German Brand , also to burn . The verb sense mark permanently with a hot iron dates from late Middle English , giving rise to the noun sense a mark of ownership made by branding (mid 17th cent.), which developed in to sense 1 (early 19th cent.).