brow
See also: Brow and brów
English
Etymology
From Middle English browe, from Old English brū, 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 (abrū, “eyebrow”)).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /bɹaʊ/
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -aʊ
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[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene v]:
- '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.
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- 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii]:
- 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.
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- 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
- forehead
Derived terms
- beetle brow
- beetle-browed
- Berry Brow
- brow-beat
- browline
- brow ridge
- Dobb Brow
- eye brow
- eyebrow
- highbrow
- lowbrow
- low-brow
- medium-brow
- middlebrow
- monobrow
- no-brow
- Scouse brow
- sweat of one's brow
- sweat of the brow
- Weatherby brow
Translations
eyebrow — see eyebrow
first tine of an antler's beam
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forehead — see forehead
the projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill
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the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay
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the hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp
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- 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
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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], 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, lines 531–532, page 19:
- Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts / That brow this bottom glade.
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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