low-browedadj.n.
/ˈləʊˌbraʊd/, U.S. /ˈloʊˌbraʊd/ A. adj.
1. Of rocks: having a low brow (brow n.1 6a); projecting low over the ground, overhanging (also figurative). Later also of a doorway, window, etc.: low; (of a building) having a low entrance; (by extension) dark, gloomy. N.E.D. (1903) notes: ‘The prevailing sense, apparently due to Milton's use of the word.’ In modern use, sense A. 2 is just as common.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > crag > [adjective] > overhanging
hangingc1330
low-browed1645
over-jutting1770
over-beetling1821
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > [adjective] > qualities of building generally
substantious1529
lightsome1548
standing1624
substantial1624
prospectless1656
light1765
pukka1777
low-browed1810
tavernous1866
barrack-like1915
demountable1939
1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 30 There under..low-brow'd Rocks,..In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
1717 A. Pope Eloisa to Abelard in Wks. 429 Low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps.
1726 J. Thomson Winter 9 Let me associate with the low-brow'd Night.
1743 R. Blair Grave 4 Low-brow'd misty Vaults.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake vi. 258 They halted at a low-browed porch.
1824 M. R. Mitford Our Village I. 263 The picturesque, low-browed, irregular cottage.
1889 D. C. Murray & H. Murray Dangerous Catspaw 20 He paused before a sombre low-browed little shop.
1922 G. K. Chesterton Man who knew too Much i. 5 March looked at the low-browed crag overhanging the green slope and nodded.
1997 A. Motion Salt Water 26 Your boxed-in, low-browed, hunched-up mews.
2002 Country Life 19 Dec. (Travel Suppl.) 49/1 The low-browed, white-washed farmhouse, which peeks out from behind two great yew trees.
2.
a. Of a person or (in later use) a hominid or skull of a hominid: that has a low brow. Frequently depreciatively, with the implication of a small brain or primitive evolutionary status, and therefore a lack of intelligence, breeding, or cultured and civilized behaviour (cf. lowbrow adj. 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > forehead > [adjective] > types of
brentc1400
high?c1450
steep1509
high-browed?1614
broad-fronteda1616
bluff1665
low-browed1734
lofty1798
baby-browed1843
bluff-browed1851
beautiful-browed1913
1734 London Mag. Jan. 39/2 The low-brow'd Muse, that gives malignance birth, As oft excites our anger, as our mirth.
a1748 C. Pitt tr. Æneid (1753) III. vi. 249 From that celestial energy began The low-brow'd brute; th'imperial race of man; The painted birds, [etc.].
1855 J. E. Cooke Ellie 71 The man, who was a coarse, low-browed fellow.
1868 R. Browning Ring & Bk. II. vi. 190 A low-browed verger sidled up.
1899 S. R. Crockett Kit Kennedy 305 Dick always had with him now a low-browed, smartly-dressed man.
1903 G. Ade People you Know 23 All agreed that the Music which seemed to catch on with the low-browed Public was exceedingly punk.
1905 McClure's Mag. May 20/1 Exactly the type of low-browed ruffian and professional thug that they were hiring over there.
1934 Sci. Monthly Jan. 30/2 The premature herbivore-like specialization of molar teeth is peculiar to Sinanthropus and the low-browed Heidelbergers and Neanderthaloids.
2009 M. Cartmill & F. H. Smith Human Lineage iv. 160/1 Many orthodox scientists thought that all the low-browed, simian-looking fossil hominins known from Europe, Africa, and Asia were only our retarded evolutionary cousins, not our ancestors.
2012 Daily Gleaner (New Brunswick, Canada) (Nexis) 3 May b3 [He] realizes not all Boston fans are low-browed twits.
b. Characteristic of, appropriate to, or appealing to the tastes of a low-browed person. Cf. lowbrow adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > [adjective]
untasteful1618
ugly1621
tasteless1676
low-browed1782
styleless1796
unaesthetic1832
inaesthetic1846
tacky1862
bad taste1895
ticky-tacky1969
cheeseball1993
1782 New Rev. Oct. 155 What constitutes as state?.. Not starr'd and spangled courts, Where low-brow'd baseness wafts perfume to pride.
1791 H. Battier Protected Fugitives 199 The ravish'd laurels spread, Which low-brow'd ignorance, had rudely torn To plant instead, pale Envy's venom'd thorn.
1842 I. Williams Baptistery I. i. 80 When low-brow'd cares our mighty yearnings balk.
1904 Everybody's Mag. June 757/2 In his company went a sullen pessimist, who took darkling, low-browed views of humanity in the lump.
1927 Miami Daily News 16 June 6/6 It is a lamentable thing that being an intellectual force does not always pay as well as the coarser, more primitive forms of low-browed entertainment do.
1994 J. Girdner Tea-totally Dead iv. 40 Trent nodded reassuringly, his face taking on the same Skeritt look of low-browed concern as Ace's had.
2010 S. Moore Novel i. 78 One as lively and low-browed as Xenophon's is dull and high-browed.
B. n.
With the and plural agreement. Low-browed people as a class (see sense A. 2a). Frequently derogatory.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > cultural ignorance > [noun] > uncultured person > collectively
Philistia1857
low-browed1915
1915 Century Mar. 793/2 The majority of people ignorantly believe that only the lowbrowed and brutalized enjoy..prize-fighting.
1936 G. B. Shaw Shaw on Theatre (1958) 251 The simplicity of the lowbrowed.
2001 New Statesman (Nexis) 3 Sept. When..the working and middle classes see their security assaulted in the interests of shareholder value, the old backlash alliance between the high-paid and the low-browed loses its appeal.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1645