To spread rumors or gossip about someone; to report or make something widely known.
From Old French 'bruire,' meaning 'to make noise or spread news.' The word comes from Latin 'brugitus,' related to the sound of breaking or roaring, and eventually shifted meaning from making noise to spreading noise (rumors) about someone.
Shakespeare used this word constantly—when characters 'bruit about' scandals, they're literally making noise in the medieval sense of town criers spreading word through streets, which is why the word means both to make noise and to gossip.
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