The act of cleaning a ship's hull by burning off seaweed and barnacles, or fishing for bream.
From 'bream' (a fish or ship-cleaning method) + '-ing' suffix. The nautical sense derives from Old English 'bræme,' originally referring to burning or scraping hulls; the fishing sense comes from the freshwater fish bream.
Medieval sailors discovered that burning dried grass and pitch on a ship's bottom would loosen all the crusty sea life—it's basically pressure-washing, but with fire! This technique was so important that entire docks had special 'breaming grounds' dedicated to the task.
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