broach

/bɹəʊtʃ//bɹoʊt͡ʃ/

broach noun: a series of chisel points mounted on one piece of steel. For example, the toothed stone chisel shown here. Also the alternative spelling of brooch.

Noun

broach (plural broaches)

A series of chisel points mounted on one piece of steel. For example, the toothed stone chisel shown here.
A broad chisel for stone-cutting.
A spit for cooking food.
- He turned a broach that had worn a crown.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
An awl; a bodkin; also, a wooden rod or pin, sharpened at each end, used by thatchers.
- It [the straw] is laid on to a considerable thickness and firmly secured by ropes or twisted straw, and pinned down by sharpened sticks called 'broaches'1840, “Cottages - Thatching”, in The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
(UK, dialectal) A spire rising from a tower.
A spit-like start on the head of a young stag.
The stick from which candle wicks are suspended for dipping.
The pin in a lock which enters the barrel of the key.

Verb (1)

broach (third-person singular simple present broaches, present participle broaching, simple past and past participle broached)

(transitive) To make a hole in, especially a cask of liquor, and put in a tap in order to draw the liquid.
- How often has the broached barrel proved not to be for joy and heart effusion, but for duel and head-breakage.1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number)
(transitive) To open, to make an opening into; to pierce.
- French knights at Agincourt were unable to broach the English line.
(figuratively, transitive) To begin discussion about (something).
- I broached the subject of contraceptives carefully when the teenager mentioned his promiscuity.
- Yet he was much too much scared of broaching any man, let alone one in a peaked cap, to dare to ask.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 4, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

spring

Verb (2)

broach (third-person singular simple present broaches, present participle broaching, simple past and past participle broached)

(intransitive) To be turned sideways to oncoming waves, especially large or breaking waves.
- The small boat broached and nearly sank, because of the large waves.
(transitive) To cause to turn sideways to oncoming waves, especially large or breaking waves (usually followed by to; also figurative).
- 18th C, Thomas Dibdin, Tom Bowling
  Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling ... for death hath broached him to.
- Each time we came around into the wind, the sea broached our bow.
(ambitransitive, torpedo, or similar) To break the surface of the water.
- Diving officer, broach the ship!
- The Politovskiy soared through the surface of the Atlantic like a broaching whale, coming three quarters of her length out of the water before crashing back.1984, Tom Clancy, “The Eighth Day: Friday, 10 December”, in The Hunt for Red October, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 193

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Broach

Broach (plural Broaches)

A surname.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Broach

Broach

(obsolete) Obsolete form of Bharuch.

Also used as

broach is also the alternative spelling of brooch.

broach meaning in Arabic

broach in Arabic

begin discussion about: فَاتَحَ fātaḥa

Examples of broach in a sentence

I have tried on several occasions to broach the subject of my love to Lys; but she will not listen.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp....
Still, both [Kate] Spicer and [Anka] Radakovich think there are some subjects, even as the outrider of sexual openness, they can't broach.1995 October 1, Nick Walker, “Women and Men: All mouth and no trousers”, in The Independent:

All 15 example sentences with broach

Synonyms of broach

spring

Forms of broach

Noun
plural	broaches
Verb
third-person singular present	broaches
present participle	broaching
past participle	broached
past	broached
Proper noun
plural	Broaches

Plural of broach: broaches

Origin of broach

From Middle English broche, from Old French broche, from Vulgar Latin *brocca, originally a feminine form of Latin broccus, perhaps ultimately of Gaulish origin (see Scottish Gaelic bròg). Doublet of brochure.

From Gujarati ભરૂચ (bharūc).

Words formed from broach

Words that rhyme with broach

Questions about broach

What does broach mean?: Broach means a series of chisel points mounted on one piece of steel. For example, the toothed stone chisel shown here.
What is broach in Arabic?: Broach in Arabic is فَاتَحَ (fātaḥa). See Broach meaning in Arabic.
How do you use broach in a sentence?: I have tried on several occasions to broach the subject of my love to Lys; but she will not listen.
What part of speech is broach?: Broach can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce broach?: Broach is pronounced /bɹəʊtʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of broach?: The plural of broach is broaches.

Words near broach in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: broach (page history and authors); Broach (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-broach.oga, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-broach.wav.

Cite this entry: “broach.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/broach. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.