Green’s Dictionary of Slang

brace v.

[? 15C SE brace, to bluster, esp. in phr. face and brace]

1. (US gambling) to cheat.

[US]J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 231: He entertained his customers with suppers of the ‘bird’ style, and ‘braced’ them to pay the expense.
[US]A. Pinkerton Reminiscences 198: He had once been a station-agent of some railroad in Minnesota [...] being ‘braced’ and beaten out of his own and considerable of the company’s funds.

2. (US Und.) to corrupt, to bribe; to intimidate; thus braced adj., corrupted.

[US]Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 Nov. 6/1: ‘You think he could be braced? ’ [...] ‘Oh! come off!’ sneered the gallant officer.
[UK]Farmer Americanisms.
[US]A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 13/1: Braced jury, professional jurors who are instructed by crooked politicians or bosses to acquit or convict.

3. (US) to demand something, esp. money, from someone.

[US]Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Oct. 10/3: [headline] How a Bummer was Cured of ‘Bracing’.
[US]Daily Trib. (Bismarck, N.D.) 23 Oct. 4/1: When trying to get trusted for a drink a man is ‘bracing the bar,’ ‘singing a song,’ ‘stifling his jag’ or ‘sparring.’.
[US]St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 3 Dec. 17/7: ‘To brace’ is to borrow.
[US]J. Flynt World of Graft 63: [They] said that they were glad to see me and immediately ‘braced’ me for a loan.
[US]‘A-No. 1’ Snare of the Road 39: It required quite an effort on my part to restrain myself from harkening to the dictates of temptation which urged me to [...] bodly [sic] brace the cooks for a lunch.
[US]J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 65: I’m goin’ to brace the first guy that passes.
[US]J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 66: This pan handler came up to me and braced me.
[UK]I, Mobster 43: I’d even had it in mind to brace him for enough to start me off on my own.
[US]C. Himes Big Gold Dream 62: Rufus drove up / mugger braced him in car / pulled him / put knife on throat.
[US]H. Ellison Deadly Streets (1983) 14: I know if I hadn’t spoken up [...] he would have braced me with a knife.
[US]J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 194: Barely, Paris remembered bracing Chad Bayless for a million bucks.

4. to question, usu. of police.

[US]J. Flynt World of Graft 24: Times was gettin’ tough when they wouldn’t give an old-timer like me a chance to catch his breath before they braced ’im.
[US]R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 105: I was just going to brace him about the California trip when he got away and went back to the meeting.
[US]R. Lardner ‘The Water Cure’ in Gullible’s Travels 203: We walked up to one o’ the most flourishin’ beards and I braced him. ‘Who owns this joint?’ I says.
[Scot]Eve. Teleg (Dundee) 14 Nov. 8/2: Suppose when he spoke to him, the young fellow pasted him one [...] can’t brace him here, he decided.
[US]R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 149: I’d [...] listen to him talking to himself. That way I got enough to brace him.
[US]W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 224: In fact, word of it had got to the D.A. and the D.A. had braced Radabaugh about it. Getting no satisfactory answers, the D.A. had thrown Radabaugh out of his job.
[US]J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 128: Ralston is the key to this case, I’m sure of that. When we get back I’m going to brace him.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 150: He’d already have braced the shvartze and billed us for zipping his squeezy toy.
[US]N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 43: Stoney talked to Tommy Bagadonuts about Tuco’s situation, and Tommy B braced Tuco.
[US]R. Price Lush Life 316: ‘Why am I bracing you?’ ‘’Cause [...] I’m a plátano from the PJs’.
[US]J. Porter ‘One More Day Can’t Hurt’ in ThugLit Apr. [ebook] ‘Braced me outside the bar [...] asked me what the man was doing’.
[Aus]A. Nette Orphan Road 159: Last night [...] when they braced Hamilton was a wake-up call.

5. to face up to, to shake up, to grab; thus bracing n.

[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 87: I saw that I was out to get bumped if I didn’t forget my fears, so I braced and began to cut grass.
[US]Tomahawk (Becker Co., MN.) 19 Oct. 3/5: God Almighty! You braced the . .
[US]Z. Grey Robbers’ Roost 81: Wal, now I’ll brace the boss.
[US]R. Chandler ‘Pearls Are a Nuisance’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 107: Now what? Brace this Gandesi and take him through the hoops?
[US]R. Chandler High Window 99: I met him just the way I told you. He tailed me around and I braced him.
[US]B. Spicer Blues for the Prince (1989) 239: The Prince got wind of it somehow, braced Magee last Friday and booted him out.
[US]T. Berger Reinhart in Love (1963) 36: A good bracing now and then puts a man into a relationship with the high powers.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 50: I need your piece to brace that nigger.
[US]J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 209: Then I thought: brace him at his pad?
[US]‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 158: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Check yoself. Brace yoself. Played yourself.
[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 34: She braced the hedgerow.

6. to accost, to solicit.

[US]W. Irwin Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum V n.p.: Last night – ah! yesternight – I flagged my queen [...] I up and braced her, breezy as a gale.
[US]H.A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 139: We ‘braced’ them at once, marching down upon them as they were murmuring with heads together over a mass of typewritten sheets.
[US]‘A-No. 1’ Snare of the Road 85: I was getting ready to brace the ex-bo who makes his kippings here for a chance to tell of the doings of the bums, when you moosed in and now are trying to spoil the graft.
[UK]Z. Grey To Last Man 165: He must have been crazy or drunk—to pop up there—an’ brace us that way.
[US]R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 168: ‘Why’d you brace me?’ I asked. ‘You had the word, didn’t you?’.
[US]N. Davis ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 16: Told him to go on in and brace her inside.
[US]A.J. Liebling Honest Rainmaker (1991) 39: Making my way [...] to the moiling fringe of the betting ring, I braced him.
[US](con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 151: I braced Whitey for it [i.e. a job].
[US]L. Sanders Anderson Tapes 46: We drive up in front of the house. He gets out, braces the doorman and shows his ID.
[US]C. Hiaasen Strip Tease 181: The lawyer braced Dilbeck with a copy of the picture.
[US]J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 388: Maybe he’d seen the cops bracing me on the street.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 6: People talked. Strangers braced strangers.
[US]‘Jack Tunney’ Cutman [ebook] I laughed at the thought of them two mooks bracing cap’n Sliddell.
[US]J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 17: I braced them as a brother.

7. (US) to remain in place.

E.W. Townsend ‘Chimmie Fadden Stories’ 8 Nov. [synd. col.] I was for making a quick sneak, but Duchess she gives me de wink to brace and I braced.

8. (US) to assess.

[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 60: I [...] braced the kitchen-side door [...] I jammed a #4 pick in the keyhole.