Past tense of brawl; fought roughly or noisily, usually in a disorderly group fight.
From Middle Dutch 'brallen' (to shout or cry), which entered English around the 15th century, originally meaning to make loud noise before shifting to mean physical fighting.
The word 'brawl' started as just 'being loud and rowdy' in taverns—the fighting part came later because people who were loud and drunk usually ended up throwing punches.
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