BROACH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does broach mean? 

• BROACH (noun)
  The noun BROACH has 1 sense:

1. a decorative pin worn by women

  Familiarity information: BROACH used as a noun is very rare.

• BROACH (verb)
  The verb BROACH has 1 sense:

1. bring up a topic for discussion

  Familiarity information: BROACH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BROACH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A decorative pin worn by women

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

breastpin; broach; brooch

Hypernyms ("broach" is a kind of...):

pin (a piece of jewelry that is pinned onto the wearer's garment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "broach"):

sunburst (a jeweled brooch with a pattern resembling the sun)

• BROACH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they broach    ... he / she / it broaches   
Past simple: broached   
Past participle: broached   
-ing form: broaching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bring up a topic for discussion

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

broach; initiate

Hypernyms (to "broach" is one way to...):

discuss; hash out; talk over (speak with others about (something); talk (something) over in detail; have a discussion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "broach"):

address; cover; deal; handle; plow; treat (act on verbally or in some form of artistic expression)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Martin made room for the young man on the bed and waited for him to broach his business.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

When I was an A B master mariner I'd have come up alongside of him, hand over hand, and broached him to in a brace of old shakes, I would; but now— And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw dropped as though he had remembered something.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It seems to me, at this distance of time, as if it were the next day when Peggotty broached the striking and adventurous proposition I am about to mention; but it was probably about two months afterwards.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I waited a few moments, expecting he would go on with the subject first broached: but he seemed to have entered another train of reflection: his look denoted abstraction from me and my business.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Double grog was going on the least excuse; there was duff on odd days, as, for instance, if the squire heard it was any man's birthday, and always a barrel of apples standing broached in the waist for anyone to help himself that had a fancy.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She had come to make certain whether or not he would be at their table for Thanksgiving dinner; but before she could broach the subject Martin plunged into the one with which he was full.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was ruffled next moment, to be sure, by a doubt of Miss Murdstone's giving her consent; but even that was set at rest soon, for she came out to take an evening grope in the store-closet while we were yet in conversation, and Peggotty, with a boldness that amazed me, broached the topic on the spot.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)