bruit

noun

1. (archaic, uncountable)Hearsay, rumour; talk; (countable) an instance of this.

   “Brother, we will proclaime you out of hand, / The bruit thereof will bring you many friends.”

   “But yet I loue my Country, and am not / One that reioyces in the common wracke, / As common bruite doth put it.”

   “Neither can they [vainglorious people] be Secret, and therefore not Effectuall; but according to the French Prouerbe; Beaucoup de Bruit, peu de Fruit: Much Bruit, little Fruit.”

   “Common bruit!—Is virtue to be eſtabliſhed by common bruit only?—Has her virtue ever been proved?—Who has dared to try her virtue?”

2. (countable, obsolete)A clamour, an outcry; a noise.

   “There is no healing of thy bruiſe: thy wound is grieuous: all that heare the bruit of thee, ſhall clap the hands ouer thee: for vpon whom hath not thy wickedneſſe paſſed continually?”

   “[S]ome fresh bruit / Startled me all aheap!—and soon I saw / The horridest shape that ever raised my awe,— [...]”

3. An abnormal sound in the body heard on auscultation (for example, through using a stethoscope); a murmur.

   “Besides chlorosis, there are several analogous affections, especially such as proceed from large losses of blood, in which the arterial bruits are generally very distinctly perceptible. In all these cases the existence of the bruits coincides with a more than ordinary fulness of the pulse: when this ceases, the bruits become invariably less and less manifest. [Translated from the Archives Generales de Medecine.]”

   “The bruit in the pulmonary artery is always accompanied by the jugular bruit. In cases where the mitral valve is affected, we are sure to meet with two other bruits: one of which is in the pulmonary artery, and the other in the jugular veins. [Summarized from the London Medical Record, 15 June 1879.]”

   “The recognition and designation of a murmur as functional is a frontal challenge, for there is no absolute means of proof. The bruit is located most commonly at the pulmonic area, is of faint intensity, and uniform pitch.”

   “Check for carotid bruits by listening to each carotid artery with a stethoscope. A bruit is a blowing or rushing sound that is created by the turbulence within the vessel. If a bruit is heard, do not perform this procedure.”

verb

1. (archaic, transitive)To disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.

   “And if it be to be beleued, as bruted is by fame. / A day did paſſe without the Sunne.”

   “Generally, Whether there be [...] any that stubbornly refuse to conform themselves to unity and good religion: any that bruiteth abroad rumours of the alteration of the same, or otherwise that disturbeth good orders, and the quietnes of Christs Church and Christian congregation.”

   “There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence.”

   “And the Kings rowſe the heauen shall brute againe, / Reſpeaking earthly thunder; [...]”

   “Even his amours he bruits forth to the public, to the delight of every pot-boy.”