brand

BRAND, noun 1. A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt, whether burning or after the fire is extinct. 2. A sword, either from brandishing, or from its glittering brightness; now obsolete, unless in poetry. 3. A thunder-bolt. 4. A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a criminal, or upon a cask; a stigma; any note of infamy. BRAND, verb transitive To burn or impress a mark with a hot iron; as, to brand a criminal, by way of punishment; or to brand a cask or any thing else, for the purpose of fixing a mark upon it. 1. To fix a mark or character of infamy, in allusion to the branding of criminals; to stigmatize as infamous; as, to brand a vice with infamy.