SG Heritage Dictionary

Brunt [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. The heat, or utmost violence of an onset; the strength or violence of any contention; as the brunt of a battle.

2. The force of a blow; violence; shock of any kind.

3. A sudden effort.

Brunt [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The heat, or utmost violence, of an onset; the strength or greatest fury of any contention; as, the brunt of a battle.

2. The force of a blow; shock; collision.

Brunton Encyclopedia Britannica

BRUNTON, Mrs Mary (1778-1818), a novelist of the early part of the 19th century, was born on the 1st November 1778, in the island of Barra, Orkney. Her father, Colonel Balfour, was a man of importance in the island, and she received a very careful and excellent education. At the age of twenty she married the Rev. Mr Brunton, minister of Bolton in Haddingtonshire, who in 1803 received a call to a church in Edinburgh. In 1811 Mrs Brunton published anonymously her first novel, SelfControl. It at once became very popular; the first edition was sold off in a month, and a second and third quickly followed. The book was especially recommended by its high moral and religious tone: it was a novel with a purpose. As a work of art, it cannot take a high place; the plot is extravagant and improbable, and the characters have none of the charm of reality about them. The story is constructed after the model of Clarissa, and contains the usual virtuous heroine and vicious hero, with an unusual number of abductions and mysteries. Her second novel, Discipline, was published in 1814, and was received with equal favour. Mrs Brunton died on the 19 th December 1818. An unfinished tale, Emmeline, was published after her death by her husband, with a notice of her life.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4, p. 403
[223 words — estimated reading time: 2 minutes]

Beginning Roget’s Thesaurus §66

N. beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation, introduction, alpha, initial, inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain, maiden speech, outbreak, onset, brunt, initiative, move, first move, narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge, fresh start, new departure, origin, source, rise, bud, germ, egg, rudiment, genesis, primogenesis, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy, start, inception, creation, starting point, dawn, evolution, title-page, head, heading, van, caption, fatihah, entrance, entry, inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon, door, gate, gateway, postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule, propylaeum, skirts, border, first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight, rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, abce

V. begin, start, commence, conceive, open, dawn, set in, take its rise, enter upon, enter, set out, embark in, incept, initiate, launch, inaugurate, inchoate, rise, arise, originate, usher in, lead off, lead the way, take the lead, take the initiative, head, stand at the head, stand first, stand for, lay the foundations, found, set up, set on foot, agoing, set abroach, set the ball in motion, apply the match to a train, broach, open up, open the door to, get underway, set about, get to work, set to work, set to, make a beginning, make a start, handsel, take the first step, lay the first stone, cut the first turf, break ground, break the ice, break cover, pass the rubicon, cross the rubicon, open fire, open the ball, ventilate, air, undertake, come into existence, come into the world, make one's debut, take birth, burst forth, break out, spring up, spring forth, crop up, pop up, appear, materialize, begin at the beginning, begin ab ovo, begin again, begin de novo, start afresh, make a fresh start, take it from the top, shuffle the cards, reshuffle the cards, resume, recommence

Adj. beginning, initial, initiatory, initiative, inceptive, introductory, incipient, proemial, inaugural, inchoate, inchoative, embryonic, rudimental, primogenial, primeval, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, natal, nascent, first, foremost, leading, maiden, begun, just begun

Adv. at the beginning, in the beginning, &c. n, first, in the first place, imprimis, first and foremost, in limine, in the bud, in embryo, in its infancy, from the beginning, from its birth, ab initio, ab ovo, ab incunabilis, ab origine

Phr. let's get going, let's get this show on the road, up and at 'em, aller anfang ist schwer, dimidium facti qui coepit habet, omnium rerum principia parva sunt

Impulse Roget’s Thesaurus §276

N. impulse, impulsion, impetus, momentum, push, pulsion, thrust, shove, jog, jolt, brunt, booming, boost, throw, explosion, propulsion, percussion, concussion, collision, occursion|, clash, encounter, cannon, carambole, appulse, shock, crash, bump, impact, elan, charge, beating, blow, dint, stroke, knock, tap, rap, slap, smack, pat, dab, fillip, slam, bang, hit, whack, thwack, cuff, squash, dowse, swap, whap, punch, thump, pelt, kick, punce|, calcitration, ruade, arietation|, cut, thrust, lunge, yerk|, carom, carrom, clip *, jab, plug*, sidewinder*, sidewipe, sideswipe, hammer, sledge hammer, mall, maul, mallet, flail, ram, rammer, battering ram, monkey, pile-driving engine, punch, bat, cant hook, cudgel, ax, dynamics, seismometer, accelerometer, earthquake detector

V. give an impetus, impel, push, start, give a start to, set going, drive, urge, boom, thrust, prod, foin, cant, elbow, shoulder, jostle, justle, hustle, hurtle, shove, jog, jolt, encounter, run against, bump against, butt against, knock one's head against, run one's head against, impinge, boost, bunt, carom, clip y, fan, fan out, jab, plug *, strike, knock, hit, tap, rap, slap, flap, dab, pat, thump, beat, blow, bang, slam, dash, punch, thwack, whack, hit hard, strike hard, swap, batter, dowse|, baste, pelt, patter, buffet, belabor, fetch one a blow, poke at, pink, lunge, yerk, kick, calcitrate, butt, strike at, whip *c, (punish) 972, come into a collision, enter into collision, collide, sideswipe, foul, fall foul of, run foul of, telescope, throw

Adj. impelling, impulsive, impellent, booming, dynamic, dynamical, impelled

Phr. "a hit, a very palpable hit"

Difficulty Roget’s Thesaurus §704

N. difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, herculean task, augean task, task of sisyphus, sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon

V. be difficult, run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out, put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end, go hard with one, try one, pose, perplex, bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock, be impossible, be in the way of, meet with difficulties, labor under difficulties, get into difficulties, plunge into difficulties, struggle with difficulties, contend with difficulties, grapple with difficulties, labor under a disadvantage, be in difficulty, fish in troubled waters, buffet the waves, swim against the stream, scud under bare poles, have much ado with, have a hard time of it, come to the push, come to the pinch, bear the brunt, grope in the dark, lose one's way, weave a tangled web, walk among eggs, get into a scrape, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears, be put to one's shifts, flounder, boggle, struggle, not know which way to turn, perdre son latin, stick at, stick in the mud, stick fast, come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock, hold the wolf by the ears, hold the tiger by the tail, render difficult, enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle, put a spoke in the wheel, lead a pretty dance

Adj. difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious|, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between scylla and charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, &c (uncertain) 475, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned

Adv. with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds

Phr. "ay there's the rub", hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire