Scold's bridle
（重定向自Scolding bridle）
![A branked scold in New England, from an 1885 lithograph.](/Images/godic/202502/09/Scoldengravingalpha2135.jpg")
![18th century scold's bridle in the Märkisches Museum Berlin](/Images/godic/202502/09/17XX_Schandmaske_anagoria2135.JPG")
![16th-century Scottish branks. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.](/Images/godic/202502/09/Brank_-_Kelvingrove_Art_Gallery_and_Museum2135.jpg")
![A scold's bridle, having a hinged iron framework to enclose the head and a bit or gag to fit into the mouth and compress the tongue..](/Images/godic/202502/09/Chambers_1908_Branks2135.png")
A scold's bridle, sometimes called a brank's bridle or simply branks, was an instrument of punishment used primarily on women, as a form of torture and public humiliation. The device was an iron muzzle in an iron framework that enclosed the head. A bridle-bit (or curb-plate), about 2 inches long and 1 inch broad, projected into the mouth and pressed down on top of the tongue.