BROKEN SQUALL. When the clouds separate in divisions, passing ahead and astern of a ship, and affecting her but little, if at all. BROKEN WATER. The contention of currents in a narrow channel. Also, the waves breaking on and near shallows, occasionally the result of vast shoals of fish, as porpoise, skip-jacks, &c., which worry untutored seamen. BROKER. Originally a broken tradesman, from the Anglo-Saxon _broc_, a misfortune; but, in later times, a person who usually transacts the business of negotiating between the merchants and ship-owners respecting cargoes and clearances: he also effects insurances with the underwriters; and while on the one hand he is looked to as to the regularity of the contract, on the other he is expected to make a candid disclosure of all the circumstances which may affect the risk. BROKET. A small brook; the sea-lark is so called at the Farne Islands. BROKE-UP. Said of a gale of wind passing away; or a ship which has gone to pieces on a reef, &c. BROND. An old spelling of _brand_, a sword. BRONGIE. A name given to the cormorant in the Shetland Islands. BROOD. Oysters of about two years old, which are dredged up at sea, for placing on the oyster-beds. BROOD-HEN STAR. The cluster of the Pleiades. BROOK, OR BROOKLET. Streams of fresh or salt water, less than a rivulet, creeping through narrow and shallow passages. The clouds _brook-up_, when they draw together and threaten rain. BROOM. A besom at the mast-head signifies that the ship is to be sold: derived probably from the old practice of displaying boughs at shops and taverns. Also, a sort of _spartium_, of which ropes are made. BROOMING. _See_ BREAMING. BROTHER-OFFICERS. Those of the same ship or regiment. BROTH OF A BOY. An excellent, though roystering fellow. BROUGHT BY THE LEE. _See_ BRING BY THE LEE. BROUGHT-TO. A chase made to stop, and heave-to. Also, the cable is brought-to when fastened to the messenger by nippers. The messenger is brought to the capstan, or the cable to the windlass. BROUGHT TO HIS BEARINGS. Reduced to obedience. BROUGHT TO THE GANGWAY. Punished. BROW. An inclined plane of planks, on one or both sides of a ship, to communicate internally; a stage-gangway for the accommodation of the shipwrights, in conveying plank, timber, and weighty articles on board. Also, the face of a rising ground. An old term for a gang-board. BROWN BESS. A nickname for the old government regulation bronzed musket, although till recently it was brightly burnished. BROWN BILL. The old weapon of the English infantry: hence, perhaps the expression "Brown Bess" for a musket. BROWN GEORGE. A hard and coarse biscuit. BROWNIE. The Polar bear, so called by the whalers. It is also a northern term for goblin. BROWN JANET. A cant phrase for a knapsack. BROWN-PAPER WARRANT. _See_ WARRANT. BROWSE. A light kind of dunnage. BRUISE-WATER. A ship with very bluff bows, built more for carrying than sailing.