brolly
Something to keep you dry
TRANSLATION
brolly = ugs. für den Regenschirm --- GOOGLE INDEX brolly: approximately 950,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
A pocket-sized invention could be the answer to the age-old problem of BROLLIES turning inside out in high wind.
(BBC News)
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A tourist hiking in Japan used a plastic BROLLY as a defense against an attacking bear.
(BBC News)
(BBC News)
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A tourist hiking in Japan used a plastic BROLLY as a defense against an attacking bear.
(BBC News)
Did you
know?
brolly
noun (chiefly British)
- slang for umbrella
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
The umbrella, sometimes referred to as a parasol (although parasols are intended as protection against the sun and not the rain), is as old as antiquity. References to it can be found in writings about ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome for instance.
During these times, the umbrella/parasol was used primarily as protection against the sun. There are also written records about umbrellas in China that date back as far as 2,400 years. There is even reference to a collapsible umbrella in China in 21 A.D.
There is evidence that the umbrella was introduced to England in the 17th century and that it was likely adopted from China. In the 1700s Jonas Hanway, a Persian traveller who was suffering from an illness at the time, walked through the streets of England with a brolly above his head. To his surprise, people threw mud and rocks at him, reasoning that if God made rain to water both plants and humans, then Hanway’s silly contraption was getting in the way.
The people of England, suffering from centuries of rain, eventually came around to the idea. London's first umbrella shop, James Smith and Sons, opened in 1830 and is still in operation.
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SYNONYMS
umbrella, parasol, Gamp (1), Hanway (in honour of Jonas Hanway), shade, Robinson (2).
(1) An outdated synonym that stems from Mrs. Sarah Gamp, a character in the novel Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.
(2) Another outdated synonym for a brolly that became popular after the publication of Daniel Defoe's classic novel Robinson Crusoe, in which Crusoe builds his own umbrella based on those he saw in Brazil.
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Oh dear, it's raining, can I borrow a brolly?"
noun (chiefly British)
- slang for umbrella
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
The umbrella, sometimes referred to as a parasol (although parasols are intended as protection against the sun and not the rain), is as old as antiquity. References to it can be found in writings about ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome for instance.
During these times, the umbrella/parasol was used primarily as protection against the sun. There are also written records about umbrellas in China that date back as far as 2,400 years. There is even reference to a collapsible umbrella in China in 21 A.D.
There is evidence that the umbrella was introduced to England in the 17th century and that it was likely adopted from China. In the 1700s Jonas Hanway, a Persian traveller who was suffering from an illness at the time, walked through the streets of England with a brolly above his head. To his surprise, people threw mud and rocks at him, reasoning that if God made rain to water both plants and humans, then Hanway’s silly contraption was getting in the way.
The people of England, suffering from centuries of rain, eventually came around to the idea. London's first umbrella shop, James Smith and Sons, opened in 1830 and is still in operation.
---
SYNONYMS
umbrella, parasol, Gamp (1), Hanway (in honour of Jonas Hanway), shade, Robinson (2).
(1) An outdated synonym that stems from Mrs. Sarah Gamp, a character in the novel Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.
(2) Another outdated synonym for a brolly that became popular after the publication of Daniel Defoe's classic novel Robinson Crusoe, in which Crusoe builds his own umbrella based on those he saw in Brazil.
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Oh dear, it's raining, can I borrow a brolly?"
