bracing

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪsɪŋ/

bracing

1. present participle of brace

bracing (comparative more bracing, superlative most bracing)

1. Invigorating or stimulating.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 13

     Gaining the more open water, the bracing breeze waxed fresh; the little Moss tossed the quick foam from her bows, as a young colt his snortings.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:

     The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.

bracing (countable and uncountable, plural bracings)

1. (uncountable) That which braces.
   • 1969, Daniel Ruge, Spinal cord injuries‎, page 174:

     In general, we believe it is better to use too much bracing and then reduce the braces to the proper size rather than to start with too little. Cutting down braces gives the patient a feeling of accomplishment

2. (countable) A brace.
   • 1997, Wind Effects on Structures‎, →ISBN, page 101:

     For stability against lateral forces, vertical bracings are provided.

3. (US) A form of the military attention stance.

• Brignac