@PUNKEY,
Agree with Punkey, except in his example.
Quote: She would not even broach the subject of her mother's will because it was too painful.
There, "broach" means to open, introduce (a subject into the conversation), to open a topic for consideration.
"Broach" originally was used in the sense of opening a barrel (forcibly, using a hammer), or in the sense of a ship's wooden hull being pierced (maybe by an impact with a reef). It has the sense of "opening up", but is commonly used figuratively, in the sense of introducing an idea or a new topic into the conversation.