BROACH, or BROOCH, BROCHA (from the French broche), an awl or bodkin. A spit is sometimes called a broach; and hence the term to broach a barrel.
The ornament known as the Highland broach, brooch, or brotche, is used, like the fibula of the Romans, to fasten the plaid. It is usually made of silver, of a round figure, with a tongue crossing its diameter. There are preserved in several families ancient brooches of very elegant workmanship, and richly ornamented. One of the most beautiful is the well-known Hunterston brooch. Some of these brooches are inscribed with names, to which particular virtues used to be attributed; others have receptacles for relics, and are supposed to have been regarded as amulets. (See Pennant's Tour in Scotland, i. 90, iii. 14.)