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brow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
brow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
brow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English browe, from Old English brū, from Proto-West Germanic *brāwu, from Proto-Germanic *brūwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃bʰrúHs (“brow”).
Compare Middle Irish brúad, Tocharian B pärwāne (“eyebrows”), Lithuanian bruvìs, Serbo-Croatian obrva, Russian бровь (brovʹ), Ancient Greek ὀφρύς (ophrús), Sanskrit भ्रू (bhrū)), Persian ابرو (abru, “eyebrow”).
Pronunciation
Noun
brow (plural brows)
- The ridge over the eyes; the eyebrow.
c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :'Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, / Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream / That can entame my spirits to your worship.
c. 1763, Charles Churchill, The Ghost:And his arch'd brow, pulled o'er his eyes, / With solemn proof proclaims him wise.
- The first tine of an antler's beam.
- The forehead.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,
And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep,
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow
Like bubbles in a late-disturb'd stream, […]
1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:Mr. Banks’ panama hat was in one hand, while the other drew a handkerchief across his perspiring brow.
- The projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill.
the brow of a precipice
- (mining) A gallery in a coal mine running across the face of the coal.
- (figurative) Aspect; appearance.
- (nautical) The gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
- (nautical) The hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
first tine of an antler's beam
the projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill
the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay
Translations to be checked
Verb
brow (third-person singular simple present brows, present participle browing, simple past and past participle browed)
- To bound or limit; to be at, or form, the edge of.
1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: , London: [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, , published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 19, lines 531–532:Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts / That brow this bottom glade.
Middle English
Noun
brow
- Alternative form of browe
Norn
Etymology
From Old Norse brauð, from Proto-Germanic *braudą. Compare Shetlandic brau.
Noun
brow
- (Orkney) bread
Plautdietsch
Adjective
brow
- brave, audacious, daring, courageous, dauntless, intrepid