Bracket Definition

brăkĭt

bracketed, bracketing, brackets

noun

brackets

A simple rigid structure in the shape of an L, one arm of which is fixed to a vertical surface, the other projecting horizontally to support a shelf or other weight.

American Heritage

An architectural support projecting from a wall, as a corbel.

Webster's New World

Any angle-shaped support, esp. one in the form of a right triangle.

Webster's New World

A wall shelf or shelves held up by brackets.

Webster's New World

A decorative or weight-bearing structural unit, two sides of which form a right angle with one arm flush against a wall and the other flush beneath a projecting surface, such as eaves or a bay window.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

verb

bracketed, bracketing, brackets

To provide or support with brackets.

Webster's New World

To enclose within brackets.

Webster's New World

To group, classify, or associate together.

Grant and Lee are bracketed in history.

Webster's New World

To include or exclude by establishing specific boundaries.

American Heritage

To establish a bracket for (an artillery target)

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Bracket

Noun

Singular:

bracket

Plural:

brackets

Origin of Bracket

From earlier bragget, probably from Middle French braguette, from Old French braguette (“the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches”), from Old Provençal braga, from Latin brāca (“pants”), from Transalpine Gaulish *brāca (“pants”), perhaps from or related to similar forms in Germanic: compare Old English braccas (“pants”), Old English brōc (“breeches”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrāg-, from *bʰreg- (“to break, crack, split, divide”). More at breech, britches.

From Wiktionary
Possibly French braguette codpiece diminutive of brague breeches from Old Provençal braga from Latin brācae from Gaulish brāca leg covering

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition