King James Bible Dictionary

A symbol of kings descended from royal ancestors (Ezekiel 17:3, 10; Daniel 11:7); of prosperity (Job 8:16); of the Messiah, a branch out of the root of the stem of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), the "beautiful branch" (4:2), a "righteous branch" (Jeremiah 23:5), "the Branch" (Zechariah 3:8; 6:12).

Disciples are branches of the true vine (John 15:5, 6). "The branch of the terrible ones" (Isaiah 25:5) is rightly translated in the Revised Version "the song of the terrible ones," i.e., the song of victory shall be brought low by the destruction of Babylon and the return of the Jews from captivity.

The "abominable branch" is a tree on which a malefactor has been hanged (Isaiah 14:19). The "highest branch" in Ezekiel 17:3 represents Jehoiakim the king.

Figurative; General references
Proverbs 11:28; Hosea 14:6; Isaiah 60:21; John 15:2-5

Pruning of
Isaiah 18:5; Daniel 4:14; John 15:6; Romans 11:17; Romans 11:21

Fruitless, cut off
John 15:2; John 15:6

A title of Christ
Psalms 80:15; Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15; Zech 3:8; Zech 6:12

Symbolic name of Joshua
Zech 6:12
Grafting

BR'ANCH, noun

1. The shoot of a tree or other plant; a limb; a bough shooting from the stem, or from another branch or bough. Johnson restricts the word to a shoot from a main bough; but the definition warranted neither by etymology nor usage.

A division of a main stem, supporting the leaves and fructification.

An arm of a tree sprouting from the stem.

2. Any arm or extended part shooting or extended from the main body of a thing; as the branch of a candlestick or of an artery. Hence, from similitude, a smaller stream running into a large one, or proceeding from it. Also, the shoot of a stag's horn; an antler.

3. Any member or part of a body, or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; as, charity is a branch of christian duty.

4. Any individual of a family descending in a collateral line; any descendant from a common parent or stock.

5. Branches of a bridle, two pieces of bent iron which bear the bit, the cross chains and the curb.

6. In architecture, branches of ogives are the arches of Gothic vaults, traversing from one angle to another diagonally, and forming a cross between the other arches, which make the sides of the square, of which these arches are diagonals.

7. A warrant or commission given to a pilot.

8. A chandelier.

BR'ANCH, verb intransitive To shoot or spread in branches; to ramify, as a plant, or as horns.

1. To divide into separate parts, or subdivisions, as a mountain, a stream, or a moral subject; to ramify.

2. To speak diffusively; to make many distinctions or divisions in a discourse.

3. To have horns shooting out.

BR'ANCH, verb transitive To divide as into branches; to make subordinate divisions.

1. To adorn with needle work, representing branches, flowers, or twigs.

BR'ANCHED, participle passive Divided or spread into branches; separated into subordinate parts; adorned with branches; furnished with branches.

BR'ANCHER, noun One that shoots forth branches.

1. A young hawk when it begins to leave the nest and take to the branches.

BR'ANCHERY, noun The ramifications or ramified vessels dispersed through the pulpy part of fruit.

BR'ANCHINESS, noun Fullness of branches.

BR'ANCHING, participle present tense Shooting in branches; dividing into several subordinate parts.

BR'ANCHING,adjective Furnished with branches; shooting out branches.

BRANCHIOS'TEGOUS, adjective [Gr. gills, and a covering.]

Having gill-covers, or covered gills, as a branchiostegous fish; covering the gills, as the branchiostegous membrane. The branchiostegi are an order of fish in the Linnean system, the rays of whose fins are bony, but whose gill-covers are destitute of bony rays.

BR'ANCH-LEAF, noun A leaf growing on a branch.

BR'ANCHLESS, adjective Destitute of branches, or shoots; without any valuable product; barren; naked.

BR'ANCHLET, noun A little branch; a twig; the subdivision of a branch.

BR'ANCH-PEDUNCLE, noun A peduncle springing from a branch.

BR'ANCH-PILOT, noun A pilot who has a branch or public commission.

BR'ANCHY, adjective Full of branches; having wide spreading branches.