brew
See also: Brew
English
Etymology 1
Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *breuwan, from Proto-Germanic *brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-.
Cognate withDutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well”), Latin fervēre (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurván, “motion of water”). It may be related to English barley
Pronunciation
- enPR: bro͞o, IPA(key): /bɹuː/, /bɹuʊ̯/
Audio (US) (file) - (Standard Southern British English) IPA(key): [bɹʉw][1]
- (Wales) IPA(key): /bɹɪʊ̯/
- Rhymes: -uː
Verb
brew (third-person singular simple present brews, present participle brewing, simple past and past participle brewed)
- (transitive, intransitive) To make tea or coffee by mixing tea leaves or coffee beans with hot water.
- 1935, Christopher Isherwood, Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, 1942, Chapter Eleven, p. 113,
- Elderly people sat indoors, in the damp. shabby houses, brewing malt coffee or weak tea and talking without animation […]
- 1935, Christopher Isherwood, Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, 1942, Chapter Eleven, p. 113,
- (transitive) To heat wine, infusing it with spices; to mull.
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene v]:
- Go, brew me a pottle of sack finely.
-
- (transitive, intransitive) To make a hot soup by combining ingredients and boiling them in water.
- (transitive, intransitive) To make beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast.
- (transitive) To foment or prepare, as by brewing
- Synonyms: contrive, plot, hatch
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864; 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 1113942837, page 106:
- Hence with thy brew’d inchantments, foul deceiver […]
- (intransitive) To attend to the business, or go through the processes, of brewing or making beer.
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iv]:
- I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink […]
-
- (intransitive, of an unwelcome event) To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming, or gathering.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene v]:
- There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest,
- 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC:
- Grant may have considered that only a performance of the very highest quality could keep him in a job - and the way his players started the game gave the 55-year-old shelter from the storm that was brewing.
-
- (transitive, obsolete) To boil or seethe; to cook.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 6:
- She had one day to get up very early in the morning to brew, when the other servants said to her: 'You had better mind you don't get up too early, and you mustn't put any fire under the copper before two o'clock.'
-
Derived terms
- brew up
- brewage
- brewer
- brewery
- brewhouse
Translations
make tea or coffee
|
make a hot soup
|
to make beer
|
to contrive; plot
|
to go through the process of brewing beer
|
to be in a state of preparation
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Noun
brew (plural brews)
- The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed; a brewage, such as tea or beer.
- 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 529:
- Six great bottles of one of the Hong Kong brews had been brought to wash down the brandy and the fragments of rice and mee and meat-fibres that clung to the back teeth.
- (slang) A single serving (can, bottle, etc.) of beer.
- Synonym: brewski
- (Britain, slang) A cup of tea.
Derived terms
- brew-in
- cold brew
- cold brew coffee
- craft brew
- iron brew
- witches' brew
Translations
something brewed
|
beer — see beer
cup of tea — see cup of tea
Etymology 2
Middle English brewe (“eyebrow”), from Old English bru (“eyebrow”). Doublet of brow
Noun
brew (plural brews)
- (Britain, dialect) An overhanging hill or cliff.
Translations
hill — see hill
References
- Szigetvári, Peter; Lindsey, Geoff (2013–2022), “brew”, in Current British English: searchable transcriptions (CUBE)
Anagrams
- BWER
Middle English
Verb
brew
- Alternative form of brewen
Polish
Etymology
Inherited from Old Polish bry, from Proto-Slavic *bry, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃bʰrúHs.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /brɛf/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɛf
- Syllabification: brew
Noun
brew f
- eyebrow
Declension
Declension of brew
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | brew | brwi |
| genitive | brwi | brwi |
| dative | brwi | brwiom |
| accusative | brew | brwi |
| instrumental | brwią | brwiami |
| locative | brwi | brwiach |
| vocative | brwi | brwi |
Derived terms
adjective
- bezbrewy
Further reading
- brew in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- brew in Polish dictionaries at PWN