bracket

I. 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 bracketed

> <

news stories bracketed 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 <

bracketed in a tie for third

> 4. a. to get the range on (a target) by firing over and short <

there were mortar rounds bracketing the area — Ed Bradley

> b. to establish the limits of <

bracketed the problem neatly

> c. to take photographs of at more than one exposure in order to ensure that the desired exposure is obtained