Defective or substandard cloth or fabric, particularly pieces with holes, stains, or weaving flaws that cannot be sold as regular merchandise.
From Middle English 'broke,' possibly related to 'break' or from Dutch 'brok' (piece), referring to broken or imperfect pieces of cloth that were rejected during quality control.
In the textile industry, 'brokes' were so common that fabric mills created entire secondary markets for them—poor people throughout history bought broken fabrics at huge discounts and repaired them or cut around flaws, making quality clothing accessible to those who couldn't afford 'perfect' cloth.
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