Meaning

noun a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)

verb put up with something or somebody unpleasant

originFrom Middle English brouken (“to use, enjoy”), from Old English brūcan (“to enjoy, brook, use, possess, partake of, spend”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūkan, from Proto-Germanic *brūkaną (“to enjoy, use”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to enjoy”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian bruke (“to need”), Dutch bruiken (“to use”), German Low German bruken (“to need”), German brauchen (“to need”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0