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• brit
  brit

  noun

  the group of small marine animals forming the food of baleen whales.
• Brit
  Brit

  noun

  a native or inhabitant of Great Britain, especially of England; Briton.
• Brit.
  Brit.

  abbreviation

  Britain.

brit

¹ American  

[brit] / brɪt /

Or britt

noun

1. the group of small marine animals forming the food of baleen whales.

2. the young of herring and sprat.

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Brit ² American  

[brit] / brɪt /

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Great Britain, especially of England; Briton.

   He married a Brit.

2. Disparaging. a member of the British army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

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adjective

1. of or relating to Great Britain or its inhabitants; British.

   The syllabus for the course in Brit Lit was none too inspiring.

Brit. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Britain.

2. British.

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Brit ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. Britain

2. British

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brit ² British  

/ brɪt /

noun

1. the young of a herring, sprat, or similar fish

2. minute marine crustaceans, esp copepods, forming food for many fishes and whales

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Brit ³ British  

/ brɪt /

noun

1. informal a British person

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Etymology

Origin of brit¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; perhaps from Cornish brȳthel “mackerel”; akin to Old Cornish brȳth, Welsh brith “speckled”

Origin of Brit²

First recorded in 1900–05; by shortening

Example Sentences

He was trained in the Jewish religious practice of brit milah — a profession generally spelled “mohel” in English and pronounced “moil.”

From New York Times • Aug. 15, 2023

When she can, she conducts brit milahs for local families — at most “a few a month,” she said.

From Washington Post • Aug. 6, 2019

Many of these Jews, according to rabbis and the ritual circumcisers known as mohels, are rejecting the classic festive circumcision ceremony, called a brit milah, or bris.

From Washington Post • Dec. 28, 2013

Turquoise's 53 Summer Street is a surreal location for psychedelic-era enlightenment in a track that BeltwayBandit describes as "really scrumptious 60s brit psychedelic whimsy, sort of Kinksesque but quite unique".

From The Guardian • May 24, 2012

"Conyfish" can mean several different fishes, so that it is not possible to be sure what Smith had in mind; so with "brit."

From The Bounty of the Chesapeake Fishing in Colonial Virginia by Wharton, James