brownn.
1.
a. Brown colour.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [noun]
brownness1572
brown1607
madder brown1815
embrownment1845
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 561 The mingling together of blacke and white colours do..produce a swart and brown, and neyther of both appeare in the browne.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xcix. 152 That beech will gather brown . View more context for this quotation
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule i. 3 Amid the browns and greens of the heather.
b. Duskiness, gloom.
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the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > darkness or gloom > [noun]
thicknessc1000
dusknessa1382
umbraclec1500
duskishness1541
sadness1601
duskiness1611
gloominess1611
opacity1611
gloom1645
shadowinessa1672
dusk1700
brown1729
gloaming1832
bat-light1871
dreich1928
1729 M. Browne Piscat. Eclog. viii. (1773) 111 The scatt'ring brown of night.
c. A pigment of a brown colour.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > colouring matter > [noun] > pigments
brown1549
umberc1568
castory1590
wood-colour1622
burnt umbera1650
Cologne earth1658
Spanish brown1660
raw umber1702
bistre1728
Siena1787
raw sienna1797
Terra Siennaa1817
sepia1821
brown ochre1823
bone brown1831
indigo-brown1838
mummy1854
Cassel brown1860
Prussian brown1860
mineral brown1869
Cappagh brown1875
Verona brown1889
1549 in J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices (modernized text) III. 573/2 1 lb. Spanish brown.
1611 G. Markham Countrey Contentm. i. x A little Capons grease, and broun of Spain, mixt together.
1855 J. Edwards Paint. Oil Colours 25 Vandyke Brown (Bituminous Earth.) This is a rich transparent pigment.
2. technical. Brown or unbleached state.
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1882 Standard 11 Sept. 6/6 Medium and fine bobbin nets in the brown.
3.
a. Elliptically, for various things or parts of things of a brown colour: e.g. a brown butterfly, a brown fly used in angling; brown clothing, etc. Also, (a drink of) brown ale (in quot. 18621, brown sherry).
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > meat dishes > [noun] > roasted meat > burnt surface of
brown1621
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > real or imitation flies
stone-flya1450
ant-fly1653
hawthorn-fly1653
mayfly1653
oak fly1653
wall-fly1653
pismire-fly1670
cow-lady1676
mayfly1676
owl fly1676
brown1681
cow-turd-fly1684
trout-fly1746
orl fly1747
hazel fly?1758
iron-blue fly?1758
red spinner?1758
Welshman's button?1758
buzz1760
Yellow Sally1766
ash-fly1787
black caterpillar1787
cow-dung fly1787
sharn-fly1787
spinner1787
woodcock-fly1787
huzzard1799
knop-fly1799
mackerel1799
watchet1799
iron blue1826
knob fly1829
mackerel fly1829
March brown1837
cinnamon fly1867
quill gnat1867
sedge-fly1867
cob-fly1870
woodcock wing1888
sedge1889
olive1895
quill1899
nymph1910
green weenie1977
Montana1987
society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > paper of specific colour
white paper1446
brown1712
whitey-brown1761
cream-laid1858
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > ale > [noun] > other ales
strawberry ale1523
red ale1557
sixteens1584
bottle ale1586
hostler ale1590
Pimlico1609
eyebright1612
quest-ale1681
hugmatee1699
Newcastle brown (ale)1707
pale ale1708
twopenny ale (or beer)1710
twoops1729
flux ale1742
pale1743
Ringwood1759
brown ale1776
light ale1780
blue cap1789
brown1820
India pale ale1837
Tipper1843
ostler ale1861
fourpenny ale1871
four-ale1883
ninepenny1886
Scotch1886
barley wine1940
IPA1953
light1953
real ale1972
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Rhopalocera (butterflies) > [noun] > family Satyridae > member of
brown1860
satyrid1865
satyr1870
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > fortified wine, Madeira wine, and sack > [noun] > sherry > types of sherry
doctor1770
antimonial wine1771
Montilla1793
Paxarete1802
pale sherry1803
amontillado1804
golden sherry1830
manzanilla1843
fino1846
Bristol milk1848
brown sherry1849
solera1851
amoroso1859
brown1862
oloroso1876
Bristol cream1886
Tio Pepe1886
cream sherry1964
a1300 K. Horn 1122 Hure horn heo leide adun, And fulde him of a brun [Gloss. a brown jar].
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. i. i. 306 The burned and scorched superficies [of roast meat], the browne we call it.
1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum xxxiv. 137 Angle with the smallest Gnats, Browns and Duns.
1712 Act 10 Anne in London Gaz. No. 5018/3 Paper called..small ordinary Brown.
1820 ‘P. Corcoran’ Fancy 109 Brown, porter.—Heavy Brown, stout.
1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 163 Flour or bread..as seconds, thirds, and browns.
1851 C. Kingsley Let. in Life ix One pounder I caught to-day on the ‘March brown’.
1860 P. H. Gosse Romance Nat. Hist. 4 Here, too, are the butterflies..the tawny ‘browns’ are dancing along the hedge-rows.
1862 C. Dickens Somebody's Luggage: His Leaving till Called For in All Year Round Extra Christmas No., 4 Dec. 5/1 Bottle old East India Brown..£0 8 0.
1862 C. Dickens Somebody's Luggage: His Wonderful End in All Year Round Extra Christmas No., 4 Dec. 47/1 He ordered a bottle of old Brown.
1934 T. S. Eliot Rock i. 12 Only if I 'ad a pint o' brown, I'd show you ' ow your money goes.
1959 A. Sinclair Breaking of Bumbo iii. 53 Let's go and have a brown in the naafi.
b. slang. A copper coin, a ‘copper’.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > [noun] > a copper or bronze coin
brass1362
black money1468
copper1712
copper-piece1735
follis1784
brown1819
clod1925
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 159 Browns and whistlers, bad halfpence and farthings.
1842 T. Martin in Fraser's Mag. Dec. ‘More browns than guineas goin' vith us any day.’
1865 Look bef. You Leap I. 239 ‘There isn't a respectable boy 'ull give me browns for a sixpence.’
c. A person of brown complexion; a brunette (obsolete). In later use, a mixed-race person.
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the world > people > ethnicities > division of mankind by physical characteristics > mixed race > [noun] > person
mongrel1542
of (the) half blood1697
half-caste1758
half-breed1760
lip-lap1798
quarter-breed1821
half-blood1826
half-and-half1827
quarter-blood1827
quarter-caste1859
mixed blooda1862
brown1862
miscegen1864
yellowbelly1867
breed1870
redbone1890
miscegenate1898
high yellow1910
samba1958
lightie1991
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xxi. 373 This feire broun is sone to the kynge Belinans.
1862 Independent 10 Apr. The jealousy between the blacks and browns, which has done so much mischief in the West Indies, is not fostered by American people of color.
1890 H. M. Field Bright Skies & Dark Shadows xi. 147 In Jamaica..they are distinguished as the whites and blacks and the browns.
1968 Listener 31 Oct. 57 53 A white girl found herself the only white in a class of blacks and browns.
4. the brown: lit. the brown-coloured mass of a flock of game-birds; in to fire into the brown (of them): to fire into the midst of a covey instead of singling out a bird; also transferred, to fire, or launch a missile, indiscriminately into a mass.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > shooting > shoot [verb (intransitive)] > manner or type of
grousec1798
to set up1824
to shoot for the stick1834
to go to rode1838
to fire into the brown (of them)1845
set1859
hold ahead1881
hold on1881
rough-shoot1937
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > discharge firearms [verb (intransitive)] > types of firing
plunge1761
steal1794
snipe1832
to fire into the brown (of them)1845
pot1854
pot-shoot1867
group1911
pot-shot1913
1845 J. Mayer Sportsman's Direct. (ed. 7) ii. 21 Always aim at one particular bird, not firing at random at the whole covey, or ‘into the brown of them’.
1871 Punch 16 Dec. 256/2 Sportsmen, whose sport must mainly consist in ‘firing into the brown’.
1885 Punch 31 Jan. 53 ‘Pop! Bang! Whose bird?’ That's the French notion of a tag, as the husband looses off ‘into the brown’ of his wife's adorers.
1888 R. Kipling Phantom 'Rickshaw (1889) 87 We three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. xxiii. 545 I fired two..stools..into the brown of it, and the meeting broke up.
1899 Daily News 4 May 8/2 The sportsman..not firing into the brown, but taking careful aim at some particular bird.
1908 T. N. Walker Through Mutiny v. 90 Our officer..treated the General and his followers to some volleys fired right into the brown of them.
1955 ‘C. S. Forester’ Good Shepherd 23 Three square miles of sea, an immense target for any torpedo fired ‘into the brown’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
brownadj.
/braʊn/, U.S. /braʊn/ 1.
a. Dusky, dark. (Now only poetic, and regarded as transferred from sense 2.)
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the world > matter > light > reflection > [adjective] > lustrous or shining with reflected light
browna1000
brightOE
cleara1300
slighta1300
burnedc1384
burnishedc1400
orientc1400
orientalc1450
sheeningc1480
refulgenta1500
silken1513
lustrantc1550
glossy1556
crisp1567
lustring1582
shiny1590
of shine1601
glossful1606
lustry1610
lustrousa1616
nitent1616
illustriousa1626
polished1649
lustrious1651
sheeny1673
shining1674
splendy1683
glazy1724
smolt1837
lustreful1843
lustred1858
sheened1920
the world > matter > colour > state or mode of having colour > [adjective] > dark-coloured
darkeOE
blackeOE
browna1000
swartOE
wanOE
murka1325
darkish?c1425
duska1450
dusketly1486
sad?1504
duskish1530
base1539
dusky1558
swarthy1577
darksome1598
smutty1648
subfusc?1705
infuscated1727
murky1759
subfuscous1762
sable1791
sombrous1799
obfuscous1822
sombre1829
wine-dark1855
murkish1869
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > darkness or gloom > [adjective] > dark, dusky, or dim
browna1000
wana1000
dusk?c1225
blacka1393
duskish1530
dusky1580
blacksome1597
duskyish1794
offusc1849
adusk1856
a1000 Metr. Boeth. xxvi. 58 Sio brune yð.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 536 Sone þe worlde bycom wel broun, Þe sunne watz doun.
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. 160 Here colour is liche Vyolet, or more browne than the Violettes.
c1449 in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1859) II. 221 Oure welevette hatte, That keueryd us from mony stormys browne.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1088 Where highest Woods..spread thir umbrage broad, And brown as Evening. View more context for this quotation
1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xvii. 215 Or ere brown ev'ning spreads her chilly shade.
1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. i. 15 Arched with ivy's brownest shade.
1854 Ld. Tennyson To Rev. F. D. Maurice iv I watch the twilight falling brown.
b. figurative. Gloomy, serious. See brown study n.
2.
a. The proper name of a composite colour produced by a mixture of orange and black (or of red, yellow, and black), and varying greatly in shade according to the proportion of the constituents, as a red brown, yellowish brown, dark brown. Brown is the colour produced by partial charring or carbonization of starch or woody fibre, as in toasted bread or potatoes, peat, lignite, withered leaves, etc.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective]
brown1393
brown-coloured1835
1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. ix. 330 Ale..of þe best and Brounest þat brewesters sellen.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8833 His hare like to þe nute brun, Quen it for ripnes fals dun.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 54 Browne, fuscus, subniger, nigellus.
a1475 Liber Cocorum (Sloane) (1862) 32 Lay hur [sc. the gose] to fyre and rost hyr browne.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. iv. 7 Ros. His very haire Is of the dissembling colour. Cel. Something browner then Iudasses. View more context for this quotation
1709 S. Centlivre Busie Body i. i. 3 My last Refuge, a brown Musquet.
1725 London Gaz. No. 6381/4 With a good Stock of Pale and Brown Beer.
1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) II. ii. 301 The head and whole upper part [of the female sparrow] are brown.
1799 R. Southey Nondescripts ii, in Poet. Wks. (1838) III. 61 Snuff..on the waistcoat black, brown dust, From the oft reiterated pinch profuse.
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel vi. ii. 162 Land of brown heath and shaggy wood.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany i. 2 The brown rocky stream.
b. Used in naming varieties or species of animals, plants, minerals, etc., as brown ant, brown bear, brown owl; brown willow; brown haematite, etc.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > unspecified types
musk-ant1671
velvet ant1748
soldier1781
raffle ant1793
Amazon-ant1824
green tree ant1845
brown ant1868
harvesting ant1873
Amazon1880
crazy ant1885
crazy ant1905
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 183 The makyng of a bathe medicinable..Brown fenelle.
1767 G. White Let. 9 Sept. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 31 The young of the brown owl will eat indiscriminately all that is brought.
1843 J. E. Portlock Rep. Geol. Londonderry 225 Earthy Brown Hæmatite, both compact and decomposed.
1861 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. VI. 69 Brown Bent-grass.
1868 J. G. Wood Homes without Hands vii. 126 The most admirable subterranean architecture is perhaps that of the Brown Ant.
1882 Garden 28 Jan. 62/3 Lettuces..the best of all for winter, the old Brown Cos.
1884 St. James's Gaz. 7 Aug. 4/2 On some estates in Scotland..a brown hare is now rarely seen.
3. Of persons: Having the skin of a brown or dusky colour:
Thesaurus »
Categories »
a. as a racial characteristic.
b. as an individual peculiarity among ‘white’ races; either natural (dark-complexioned, brunette), or as an effect of exposure (sunburnt, tanned).
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the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > tan > [adjective]
brownc1384
nut-brownc1503
weather-beaten1530
tanned1564
tan-faced1614
tan-skinned1614
brown-complexioned1704
tanninga1717
brown-skinned1745
suntanned1796
well-tanned1815
weather-bronzed1837
bronzed1842
weather-tanned1853
saddle-coloured1854
bronze-faced1896
tan1963
a1000 Cædmon's Ex. 70 (Bosw.) Brune leode.
c1384 G. Chaucer Hous of Fame 139 Vulcano That in his face was ful broune.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) iv. ii. 80 In hoote countrees comen forth blacke men and broun.
c1420 Chron. Vilod. 505 Þaw þu be broune þu art ryȝt welle shape and fere.
1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) v. xxvi. 113 That browne Girle of mine.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. ii. 296 When the browne Wench Lay kissing in your Armes. View more context for this quotation
a1763 W. Shenstone Odes (1765) 226 Brown exercise will lead thee where she reigns.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 21 Where..the brown Indian takes a deadly aim.
a1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. India Proprietor (1834) 53 The fair sex elsewhere are called the ‘Brown Girls’ in Jamaica.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Enoch Arden in Enoch Arden, etc. 38 Enoch was so brown, so bow'd, So broken.
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c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 5609 Wyþ ys swerd of style broun.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 989 Brende golde bryȝt, As glemande glas burnist broun.
c1460 Lybeaus Disc. 552 Swordes bryght and broune.
a1802 Ballad ‘Cospatrick’ xxii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1882) I. i. 70/2 My bonny brown sword.
5. † b. Cf. round dozen n. at round adj. Compounds 2a. Obsolete.
a. to do brown: perhaps, ‘to do thoroughly’, suggested by roasting; to deceive, ‘take in’. slang.
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the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > cheat, swindle [phrase] > get the better of
to do brown?1548
to give one the (or a) slampant1577
to play the merchant with1593
to come (or put) Yorkshire on one1700
to steal a march1716
to come (also act, play, etc.) the old soldier (over a person)1810
?1548 L. Shepherd John Bon 8 Ha browne done.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xlii. 461 ‘He goes in rayther raw, Sammy,’ said Mr. Weller metaphorically, ‘and he'll come out done so ex-ceedin' brown, that his most formiliar friends won't know him’.
1840 R. H. Barham Execution in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 304 We are all of us done so uncommonly brown!
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the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > prime > whole
whole?c1425
round1607
brown1611
integral1658
integer1660
1611 G. Chapman May-day ii. 17 You haue a whole browne dozen a suters at least.
Compounds
C1. General relations.
a. Qualifying the names of other colours.
Thesaurus »
brown-bay n.
brown-black n. and adj.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > [adjective] > brownish-black
brownish-black1685
brown-black1849
1849 D. Campbell Pract. Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 246 The brown-black bisulphide.
1942 S. Spender Life & Poet 28 The field is green in summer and brown-black in winter.
brown-gold adj.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > yellowish brown
yellow-dun1593
honey-coloured1603
cinnamon-coloured1679
cinnamon1685
lurid1767
rhubarb1792
tombac-brown1794
sherry-bay1856
khaki1863
khaki coloured1879
golden oak1883
rhubarby1885
crotal1901
brown-gold1909
Sahara1923
safari1934
1909 Daily Chron. 7 May 4/4 The sun..glittered on her brown-gold hair.
brown-green adj.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > green or greenness > [adjective] > brownish green
brown-green1882
1882 Garden 10 June 400/1 The downy, brown-green young shoots.
brown-pink n.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > [noun] > shades of red > pale red or pink > deep pink
brown-pink1855
old rose1890
vieux rose1890
1855 J. Edwards Paint. Oil Colours 27 Brown Pink..is a rich transparent olive, inclining sometimes to green, and sometimes towards the warmth of orange.
brown-red n.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > [adjective] > brownish-red
rustya1398
hepaticc1420
horseflesh1530
rubiginousa1538
iron1587
bricky1615
ferrugineous1633
sand-reda1639
brickish1648
ferruginous1656
lateritious1656
brick-coloured1675
blood bay1684
testaceous1688
rust-coloureda1691
brick-red1740
brick-dust-like1765
maroon1771
rufous1782
brick-dusty1817
rusted1818
worm red1831
brownish-red1832
brown-red1835
foxy1850
rust1854
henna-coloured1865
chestnut-red1882
terra-cotta1882
copper-red1883
fox-red1910
oxblood1918
tony1921
henna-brown1931
henna-red2002
1835 N. Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1871) I. 14 Some of the oaks are now a deep brown red.
brown-rosy adj.
ΚΠ
1926 D. H. Lawrence Sun v. 19 Ripe now, and brown-rosy all over with the sun.
b. Parasynthetic.
brown-barrelled adj.
brown-bearded adj.
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the world > life > the body > hair > hair on lower part of face > [adjective] > beard > types of > having
long-beardedc1400
red-bearded1552
white-bearded1555
whey-bearded1556
grey-bearded1562
black-bearded1577
barbatulousc1600
bush-bearded1615
big-bearded1620
sand-beardeda1641
goateed1847
brown-bearded1882
peach fuzz1932
peach-fuzzed1956
1882 J. Hawthorne Fortune's Fool xi, in Macmillan's Mag. Feb. 264/2 One big brown-bearded fellow.
brown-coloured adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective]
brown1393
brown-coloured1835
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 41/1 (note) Eight brown-coloured masses.
brown-complexioned adj.
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the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > tan > [adjective]
brownc1384
nut-brownc1503
weather-beaten1530
tanned1564
tan-faced1614
tan-skinned1614
brown-complexioned1704
tanninga1717
brown-skinned1745
suntanned1796
well-tanned1815
weather-bronzed1837
bronzed1842
weather-tanned1853
saddle-coloured1854
bronze-faced1896
tan1963
the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > darkness > [adjective]
blackeOE
browned-black?c1510
dark?1537
black-faced1581
adust?1586
black-visaged1602
mulatto1622
kettle-faced1680
black-favoured1681
black-a-top1685
brown-complexioned1704
blackavised1721
brunette1724
brune1747
dark-skinned1750
black-looking1753
melanic1826
melanous1836
brunet1840
copper-skinned1873
brown-skinned1904
brown-
1704 in London Gaz. No. 4034/4 John Jackson..aged near 40, brown Complectioned.
brown-edged adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > variegation > [adjective] > edged with colour
brown-edged1830
picotee1899
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > [adjective] > having an edge or border > of specific kind > specific
fringed1495
hard-edged1589
feathery1792
brown-edged1830
fringy1831
vallate1878
thick-rimmed1976
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 332 Delf, blue, and white, brown-edged, and green-edged.
brown-eyed adj.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [adjective] > types of eyes by colour > having
grey-eyed1534
green-eyed1553
blue-eyed1572
black-eyed1576
yellow-eyed1593
white-eyed1607
red-eyed?1609
ferret-eyed1699
golden-eyed1763
light-eyeda1795
pink-eyed1830
brown-eyed1865
sloe-eyed1869
1865 C. M. Yonge Clever Woman I. iii. 56 A brown-haired, brown-eyed child of seven.
brown-faced adj.
brown-haired adj.
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the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > having dark hair
blackeOE
black-hairedc1540
brown-haired1686
dark-haired1697
brunette1724
brune1747
raven-haired1778
melanocomous1836
night-haired1839
1686 London Gaz. No. 2100/4 A tall slender Man, brown hair'd.
brown-headed adj.
brown-leaved adj. (also brown-leafed)
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > plant defined by leaves > [adjective] > having leaves of particular colour
red-leavedc1425
red-leafed1597
silver-leaved1731
blue-leaved1764
brown-leaved1837
silver-leaf1846
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. v. iv. 313 Church Formulas seemed to flourish, a little brown-leaved or so, but not browner than of late years.
brown-locked adj.
brown-roofed adj.
brown-sailed adj.
brown-skinned adj.
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the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > tan > [adjective]
brownc1384
nut-brownc1503
weather-beaten1530
tanned1564
tan-faced1614
tan-skinned1614
brown-complexioned1704
tanninga1717
brown-skinned1745
suntanned1796
well-tanned1815
weather-bronzed1837
bronzed1842
weather-tanned1853
saddle-coloured1854
bronze-faced1896
tan1963
the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > darkness > [adjective]
blackeOE
browned-black?c1510
dark?1537
black-faced1581
adust?1586
black-visaged1602
mulatto1622
kettle-faced1680
black-favoured1681
black-a-top1685
brown-complexioned1704
blackavised1721
brunette1724
brune1747
dark-skinned1750
black-looking1753
melanic1826
melanous1836
brunet1840
copper-skinned1873
brown-skinned1904
brown-
1745 J. Mitchell in Philos. Trans. 1744–5 (Royal Soc.) 43 112 Like the Skin of many brown-skinn'd white People.
1904 E. F. Benson Challoners viii. 162 Helen's soft brown-skinned hand.
brown-stemmed adj.
c.
brown-wash v. Apparently an isolated use.
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1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain viii. 93 Rubbed over, or rather brown-washed with clay.
C2. Special combinations. See also Brown Bess n., brown bread n., Brown George n., brown paper n., brown study n.† brown baker n. Obsolete a baker of brown bread.† brown bastard n. Obsolete a sweet wine (see bastard n. 3). † Brown Tommy n. (also Brown Tommie) Obsolete coarse brown bread, esp. that supplied to soldiers as rations; a loaf of this; cf. Tommy n.1 4a, Brown George n. 1a.
brown ale n. (see quot. 1969).
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > ale > [noun] > other ales
strawberry ale1523
red ale1557
sixteens1584
bottle ale1586
hostler ale1590
Pimlico1609
eyebright1612
quest-ale1681
hugmatee1699
Newcastle brown (ale)1707
pale ale1708
twopenny ale (or beer)1710
twoops1729
flux ale1742
pale1743
Ringwood1759
brown ale1776
light ale1780
blue cap1789
brown1820
India pale ale1837
Tipper1843
ostler ale1861
fourpenny ale1871
four-ale1883
ninepenny1886
Scotch1886
barley wine1940
IPA1953
light1953
real ale1972
1776 W. Reddington Pract. Treat. Brewing (new ed.) xxxi. 59 How common brown Ale is to be yeasted. I understand here such ale as is intended to be drank new and mixed with stale beer.
1842 S. Bamford Passages Life Radical II. xlvii. 239 Our weaver lads must put up..with jannocks and barley bread, and barm dumplings, and brown ale.
1969 Beer & Cider (Know the Drink) 32/1 Brown Ale, sometimes called ‘Home-brewed’. Dark and usually rather sweet. It is the bottled equivalent of mild ale and is a good mixer with it.
brown algae n. the algæ of seaweeds constituting the class Phæophyceæ, which contain a brown colouring matter in addition to chlorophyll.
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the world > plants > particular plants > algae > [noun] > brown algae and parts
propagulum1807
phaeoplast1886
brown algae1902
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 272/1 A white efflorescence which appears on certain Brown Algæ..when they are dried in the air.
brown-back n. U.S. (a) the red-breasted snipe or dowitcher in summer plumage; (b) the great marbled godwit, Limosa fedoa (Cent. Dict., 1889).
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Scolopacidae (snipes, etc.) > [noun] > limnodromus griseus (dowitcher)
grey snipe1756
red-breasted snipe?a1808
dowitcher1841
brown-back1844
1844 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. ii. 255 The Dowitchee..or Brown-back.
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 252 Macrorhamphus. Red-breasted Snipe. Gray Snipe. Brown-back.
1893 Outing 22 96/2 ‘Brown-back’ snipe.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > baker > baker of bread
bakerOE
moulder1290
bread-wrighta1325
kneaderc1440
white baker1441
paster?a1475
brown baker1528
dough kneader1605
bread man1830
brakesman1845
1528 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 58 Ye corporation of ye browne bakers.
1633 A. Munday et al. Stow's Surv. of London (new ed.) 642 The Company of the Brown-Bakers, a Society of long standing and continuance.
1656 J. Reeve Let. 11 June in J. Reeve & L. Muggleton Suppl. Bk. Lett. (1831) 5 In Trinity Lane, over against a Brown Bakers.
brown-banded snake n. (see quots.).
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the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Elapidae or Najidae > member of genus Notechis (tiger-snake)
brown-banded snake1869
tiger-snake1869
tiger1895
1869 G. Krefft Snakes Austral. 55 The large-scaled snake..is confounded, in Victoria in particular, with the Tiger or Brown-banded Snake (Hoplocephalus curtus).
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 197/1 The Brown-banded Snake (Hoplocephalus curtus), with a similar distribution [throughout Australia], and also common in Tasmania, from 5 to 6 feet long.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > types of wine > [noun] > sweet wine
honey-teareOE
sweet winec1386
bastard?c1425
dulce1601
brown bastard1609
dulce1849
vino dolce1902
vino dulce1911
vin doux1958
sticky1982
1609 Euerie Woman in her Humor sig. B3 A Figge for Browne-bastard.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 273 We shall haue all the world drinke browne & white bastard . View more context for this quotation
brown belt n. the belt worn by a student of judo or karate who has attained a certain grade, usually that next below black belt; also, a person qualified to wear such a belt.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > martial arts > [noun] > belt
belt1911
black belt1911
brown belt1937
red belt1937
green belt1940
yellow belt?1942
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > martial arts > [noun] > belt > wearer
brown belt1937
black belt1954
1937 J. Kano Judo (Jujutsu) iii. 38 A brown belt is used from the third Kyū grade to the first Kyū grade of the senior division (adults).
1939 T. S. Kuwashima Judo p. vii In 1916 he came to the United States as an accredited representative to teach Judo, and to confer the varying degrees of Brown Belt and Black Belt, the belts representing the degree of skill attained by the student.
1968 N.Y. Times 1 Apr. 66 Winners in the form divisions were Toyotaro Miyazaki of Jackson Heights, Queens, black belt; Larry Pomilio of North Miami Beach, Fla., brown belt [etc.].
Brown Betty n. chiefly U.S. a baked pudding containing apples and breadcrumbs.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > puddings > [noun] > sweet or fruit puddings
white pudding1588
quaking puddinga1665
apple pudding1708
cowslip pudding1723
plum pudding1811
roly-poly pudding1821
black cap1822
amber pudding1829
bird's nest pudding1829
slump1831
Bakewell pudding1833
roly-poly1835
dog in a (or the) blanket1842
castle pudding1845
ice pudding1846
pan pie1846
dick1849
roll-up1856
canary pudding1861
roly1861
treacle pud1861
Brown Betty1864
summer pudding1875
parfait1884
schalet1884
Sally Lunn pudding1892
Tommy1895
queen of puddings1903
layer-pudding1909
clafoutis1926
shrikhand1950
chocolate fondant1971
mud-pie1975
tiramisu1982
lava cake1994
1864 Yale Lit. Mag. 29 187 [In training,] tea, coffee, pies, and ‘brown Betty’ must next be sacrificed.
1910 S. E. White Adventures of Bobby Orde x. 126 It was the season of..apple-tapioca and Brown Betty.
1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xv. 164 Brown-betty with thick cream.
brown blaze n. (see quot.).
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > ore > [noun] > zinc ore > burning matter from
brown blaze1854
1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci., Chem. Chem. 458 The first portions of volatile matter which pass over when zinc ore is distilled in contact with carbonaceous matter, and which on account of their burning with a brown flame, are called by the technical name of brown blaze, contain very little zinc, and are chiefly composed of arsenic and cadmium.
brown coal n. a name given to lignite, and to some varieties of coal intermediate between lignite and true coal.
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society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun]
coal1253
sea-coal1253
pit-coal1483
cannel1541
earth coala1552
horse coal1552
Newcastle coal1552
stone-coal1585
cannel coal1587
parrot1594
burn-coal1597
lithanthrax1612
stony coal1617
Welsh coala1618
land-coala1661
foot coal1665
peacock coal1686
rough coal1686
white coal1686
heathen-coalc1697
coal-stone1708
round1708
stone-coal1708
bench-coal1712
slipper coal1712
black coal1713
culm1742
rock coal1750
board coal1761
Bovey coal1761
house coal1784
mineral coal1785
splint1789
splint coal1789
jet coal1794
anthracite1797
wood-coal1799
blind-coal1802
black diamond1803
silk-coal1803
glance-coal1805
lignite1808
Welsh stone-coal1808
soft1811
spout coals1821
spouter1821
Wallsend1821
brown coal1833
paper coal1833
steam-coal1850
peat-coal1851
cherry-coal1853
household1854
sinter coal1854
oil coal1856
raker1857
Kilkenny coal1861
Pottery coal1867
silkstone1867
block coal1871
admiralty1877
rattlejack1877
bunker1883
fusain1883
smitham1883
bunker coal1885
triping1886
trolley coal1890
kibble1891
sea-borne1892
jet1893
steam1897
sack coal1898
Welsh1898
navigation coal1900
Coalite1906
clarain1919
durain1919
vitrain1919
single1921
kolm1930
hards1956
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > hydrocarbon minerals > [noun] > coal > lignite
moor-coal1562
Bovey coal1761
surturbrand1761
wood-coal1799
lignite1808
brown coal1833
peat-coal1851
1833 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 199 This brown coal consists of..beds of lignite of various thickness interstratified with the clays and sands.
1878 P. H. Lawrence tr. B. von Cotta Rocks Classified (new ed.) 321 Brown coal..differs from ordinary black coal in containing a much greater proportion of bitumen.
brown earth n. a type of soil developed in temperate humid regions under deciduous forests, having a brown surface-layer rich in humus.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [noun] > organic soil > humus > chestnut soil
chestnut soil1928
brown earth1932
1932 Forestry 6 27 The soil type of the dales is the ‘brown earth’, characterized in the vertical section (profile) by the dark brown to black colour of the top layers of the mineral soil.
1953 Proc. Prehistoric Soc. 19 131 Deforestation..would in time change such a forest soil by decalcification into an ordinary brownearth.
brown-fly n. an artificial fly used in angling.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of
moor flylOE
drake-flya1450
dub-flya1450
dun cut1496
dun fly1496
louper1496
red fly1616
moorish fly1635
palmer1653
palmer fly1653
red hackle1653
red palmer1653
shell-fly1653
orange fly1662
blackfly1669
dun1676
dun hackle1676
hackle1676
mayfly1676
peacock fly1676
thorn-tree fly1676
turkey-fly1676
violet-fly1676
whirling dun1676
badger fly1681
greenfly1686
moorish brown1689
prime dun1696
sandfly1700
grey midge1724
whirling blue1747
dun drake?1758
death drake1766
hackle fly1786
badger1787
blue1787
brown-fly1787
camel-brown1787
spinner1787
midge1799
night-fly1799
thorn-fly1799
turkey1799
withy-fly1799
grayling fly1811
sun fly1820
cock-a-bondy1835
brown moth1837
bunting-lark fly1837
governor1837
water-hen hackle1837
Waterloo fly1837
coachman1839
soldier palmer1839
blue jay1843
red tag1850
canary1855
white-tip1856
spider1857
bumble1859
doctor1860
ibis1863
Jock Scott1866
eagle1867
highlander1867
jay1867
John Scott1867
judge1867
parson1867
priest1867
snow-fly1867
Jack Scott1874
Alexandra1875
silver doctor1875
Alexandra fly1882
grackle1894
grizzly queen1894
heckle-fly1897
Zulu1898
thunder and lightning1910
streamer1919
Devon1924
peacock1950
1787 T. Best Conc. Treat. Angling (ed. 2) 111 The Brown-fly, or Dun-Drake..its wings are made off the feather of a Pheasant's wing, which..exactly resembles the wing of the fly.
brown-footed rat n. (see quot.).
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Muridae > genus Mus or mouse > other types of
rock rat1781
rock mouse1843
pouched mouse1853
coffee-rat1859
bush-rat1867
brown-footed rat1884
rex1928
1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 5/2 Mus fuscipes, Waterh., the Brown-footed Rat of western and southern Australia.
brown gannet n.
brown gull n. names of the booby ( Sula fusca).
brown goods n. electrical merchandise such as radios, televisions, and hi-fi units, conventionally housed in brown casings (as distinct from the white of washing machines, cookers, etc.): cf. white goods n.
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society > trade and finance > merchandise > [noun] > particular class of
line1834
town-made1835
run1861
brand1864
sideline1886
make1909
name brand1944
white goods1947
brown goods1976
positional goods1976
1976 Which? Mar. 61/1 Electrical equipment..includes things like washing machines and fridges (what the trade calls white goods) as well as TVs and audio (which the trade calls brown goods). Specialist TV and audio shops don't normally sell white goods.
1980 Austral. Financial Rev. 15 Aug. 9/1 Waltons cut retail prices by up to 50 per cent on furniture, household items and kitchenware while white and browngoods sold for cost price and less.
1984 Times 5 Oct. 27/1 The brown goods demand charges on.
brown gum n. ‘the inspissated juice of the Eucalyptus resinifera’’ ( New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon).
brown-heart n. (a) a species of tree in Suriname; (b) a disease of stored apples and pears characterized by internal brown decay; (c) a disease of turnips and related plants in which a deficiency of boron in the soil causes internal brown decay.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > South American and West Indian trees or shrubs > [noun] > unidentified, unspecified, or various
silver-wood1693
grapple-wood1750
brown-heart1796
singing tree1885
the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > associated with particular type of plant > crop or food plant > fruit
brown-heart1923
the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > associated with particular type of plant > crop or food plant > vegetables > turnips or cabbages
anbury1742
fingers and toes1799
club1830
club-root1832
clubbing1836
brown-heart1950
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam II. xxviii. 335 The brown-heart is in hardness of the same consistency as the purple-heart, and the green-heart.
1923 F. Kidd & C. West in Dept. Sci. & Ind. Res., Food Invest. Board, Spec. Rep. XII. title Brown-heart—a functional disease of apples and pears.
1928 F. T. Brooks Plant Dis. ii. 16 Brown Heart in apples has been shown..to be caused by asphyxiation of the fleshy part of the fruit when there is a large increase of carbon dioxide and a decrease of oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. May 476/3 Although the size and outward appearance of turnips or swedes affected with brown heart are quite good, when opened up they may have internal greyish or brownish markings in the flesh.
brown-hen n. the female of the Black Grouse ( Tetrao tetrix).
brown-holland n. (see Holland n.1).
brown house n. U.S. a brownstone house (see brownstone n. Compounds 1).
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > house of specific material or construction
thatch-house1521
slate house1554
thack housec1600
frame house1627
log-house1662
straw1665
thatch1693
tin-house1798
fog house1799
leaf house1811
rock house1818
black house1819
blockhouse1821
white house1824
slab-and-bark house1826
brown house1845
brush house1854
soddy1877
hurdle-housea1879
bottle house1913
stucco1922
prefab1942
Portal house1944
Airey1945
yali1962
1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. viii. 324 The Deacon's..was a small, one story brown house.
1861 H. B. Stowe Pearl of Orr's Island I. ii. 10 Down near the end of Orr's Island..stands a brown house.
brown job n. slang a soldier; also collective, the Army.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > [noun]
army1698
land-force1790
brown job1943
Dad's Army1970
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > [noun]
thanec893
knightc1175
soldiera1300
osteyoura1450
servitor?1570
marshalman1575
soldado1577
soldat1591
manat1610
camper1631
soldade1634
buff coata1670
swad1708
militaire1746
red herring1789
coolie1803
swaddy1819
swad-gill1819
scarlet runnerc1864
guffy1882
leatherneck1890
pongo1890
hoster1892
swatty1901
file1903
squaddie1933
brown job1943
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 18 Brown job, the Army (R.A.F. name).
1952 R. Sherbrooke-Walker Khaki & Blue i. 4 Another aspect of R.A.F. dress which struck the ‘brown job’, as they called their brothers in the Army.
1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom ii. xvi. 230 Can you hear me, bluebottles and brown job?
1963 Economist 29 June 1391/3 General Delacombe was a pretty undiplomatic brown-job.
brown jolly n. West-Indian corruption of brinjal n.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > fruits as vegetables > [noun] > aubergine
love apple1578
brinjal1611
brown jolly1756
melongene1793
aubergine1796
egg-fruit1811
garden egg1811
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > fruits as vegetables > aubergine
mad-apple1578
rage apple1578
raging apple1578
raging love apple1578
verangene1587
brinjal1611
brown jolly1756
melinzane1775
melongena1785
melongene1793
aubergine1796
vegetable egg1797
egg-fruit1811
Jew's apple1838
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 173 The Brown-Jolly, or Bolangena..was first imported into Jamaica by the Jews.
1814 J. Lunan Hortus Jamaicensis I. 280 Sometimes called brown jolly or mad-apple.
brown malt n.
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1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) III. 179 It is a common Saying, that there is brought to London the worst of brown Malt, and the best of Pale.
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. iv. 87 The deep brown malt, now in use under the name of patent malt, is made by roasting malt..in the same manner as coffee is roasted, until it become blackish brown.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 95 According to the colour and the degree of drying, malt is distributed into three sorts; pale, yellow, and brown... The black malt used by the porter brewer..is partially charred.
1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 270/1 Brown or porter malt..is sometimes called ‘blown malt’, from its distended appearance.
brown mint n.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > culinary herbs > mint or spearmint
minteOE
spearmint1562
brown mint1597
mackerel mint1597
green mint1770
pudina1842
spire mint1863
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 553 The first Mint is called..browne Mint, or red Mint. The second..crosse Mint, or curled Mint. The third..Speare Mint, common Garden Mint, our Ladies Mint, Browne Mint, and Macrell Mint. The fourth..Hart Woort, or Hart Mint.
brown moth n. an artificial fly used in angling by night.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of
moor flylOE
drake-flya1450
dub-flya1450
dun cut1496
dun fly1496
louper1496
red fly1616
moorish fly1635
palmer1653
palmer fly1653
red hackle1653
red palmer1653
shell-fly1653
orange fly1662
blackfly1669
dun1676
dun hackle1676
hackle1676
mayfly1676
peacock fly1676
thorn-tree fly1676
turkey-fly1676
violet-fly1676
whirling dun1676
badger fly1681
greenfly1686
moorish brown1689
prime dun1696
sandfly1700
grey midge1724
whirling blue1747
dun drake?1758
death drake1766
hackle fly1786
badger1787
blue1787
brown-fly1787
camel-brown1787
spinner1787
midge1799
night-fly1799
thorn-fly1799
turkey1799
withy-fly1799
grayling fly1811
sun fly1820
cock-a-bondy1835
brown moth1837
bunting-lark fly1837
governor1837
water-hen hackle1837
Waterloo fly1837
coachman1839
soldier palmer1839
blue jay1843
red tag1850
canary1855
white-tip1856
spider1857
bumble1859
doctor1860
ibis1863
Jock Scott1866
eagle1867
highlander1867
jay1867
John Scott1867
judge1867
parson1867
priest1867
snow-fly1867
Jack Scott1874
Alexandra1875
silver doctor1875
Alexandra fly1882
grackle1894
grizzly queen1894
heckle-fly1897
Zulu1898
thunder and lightning1910
streamer1919
Devon1924
peacock1950
1837 J. Kirkbride Northern Angler 48 The Brown Moth..is made with a feather from the wing of the dark-brown owl.
brown mould n. Mucor mucedo and other fungi found on decaying fruit, etc.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > harmful or parasitic fungi > [noun] > mould or mildew
fenOE
mildew1340
moulda1400
moul1440
vinny1538
hoar1548
mouldingc1610
vinegar-plant1797
moulder1817
mucor1818
vinegar mother1839
leaf rust1859
wood-mould1869
Isaria1874
grease mould1882
brown mould1883
pourriture noble1911
fumagine1913
1883 Good Words Nov. 732/1 In the brown-mould quite a different arrangement prevails.
brown ochre n. a variety of limonite; also the pigment prepared from it.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > colouring matter > [noun] > pigments
brown1549
umberc1568
castory1590
wood-colour1622
burnt umbera1650
Cologne earth1658
Spanish brown1660
raw umber1702
bistre1728
Siena1787
raw sienna1797
Terra Siennaa1817
sepia1821
brown ochre1823
bone brown1831
indigo-brown1838
mummy1854
Cassel brown1860
Prussian brown1860
mineral brown1869
Cappagh brown1875
Verona brown1889
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > oxides and hydroxides > [noun] > corundum group A2 03 > haematite > brown haematite or limonite
brown haematite1816
brown ochre1823
limonite1823
stilpnosiderite1823
turgite1850
rubio1877
1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 415 Brown-Ochre is a warm brown or foul orange colour.
1855 J. Edwards Paint. Oil Colours 19 Brown Ochre..is a dark ochre of great value in landscape painting..It is of a dark brownish yellow.
Brown Owl n. (the name given to) the adult leader of a Brownie Guides pack.
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society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > specific youth organizations > members of scouts or guides
Boy Scout1908
patrol leader1908
scout1908
scoutmaster1908
tenderfoot1908
captain1909
Girl Guide1909
Girl Scout1909
lieutenant1909
pathfinder1911
sea scout1911
rosebud1914
brownie1916
sixer1916
tenderpad1916
Brown Owl1918
rover1918
Rover Scout1918
ranger1920
tawny owl1921
Cub1922
Akela1924
scouter1930
Guider1931
den mother1936
Queen's Guide1946
Queen's Scout1952
Venture Scout1966
Beaver1975
skipper1986
1918 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Girl Guiding i. ii. 17 The Brown Owl (that is, the leader of the Pack) takes her place by the toadstool.
1918 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Girl Guiding i. ii. 21 Each Pack is under the charge of a grown-up leader—the Brown Owl.
1921 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Brownies (ed. 2) 60 A Brownie Pack consists of not less than two Sixes..under a Brownie Guider, who is called the Brown Owl, and her assistant the Tawny Owl.
1932 U. M. Williams For Brownies 111 Brown Owl is guarding the rest of the pack.
1950 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IX. 254/1 Brownies are divided into ‘Packs’ of 18–24 children, under the leadership of two adult leaders, known to the Brownies as ‘Brown Owl’ and ‘Tawny Owl’.
1968 ‘M. Finch’ Eye with Mascara xiv. 149 She sounded like Brown Owl chivvying her Brownies.
1973 Brownie 10 Jan. 7/1 Our Pack has a membership of 20 keen Brownies... Our meetings are held at Brown Owl's house... Tawny Owl is a Sister at Hetune and walks all the way to our meetings.
1977 Guider July 331/2 She was a Guider in this Company, a Brown Owl of the 1st Teignmouth Pack, a Sea Ranger Skipper and a District Commissioner.
brown pink n. a lake pigment derived from Persian or Avignon berries ( Rhamnus infectoria).
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1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) I. 895 Brown-pink, and others of the same class are also evanescent in their layers.
brown rice n. unpolished rice, with only the husk of the grain removed.
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the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [noun] > rice > types of
white rice1614
rough rice1735
wild rice1748
Carolina rice1787
Patna rice1795
rough1837
basmati1845
small1882
palay1889
brown rice1916
arborio1951
1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 20 July 11/5 The Vancouver consignment included sake, brown rice, white rice, shoyu.
1969 Listener 17 July 79/3 Macrobiotics is a life science discovered in Japan by Georges Ohsawa and it's based on the two pillars of philosophy and diet—the staple food being brown rice.
brown rot n. any of various diseases of plants and trees characterized by browning and decay.
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the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > associated with crop or food plants > fruit or fruit plants
leaf curl1850
fly-speck1855
vine-mildew1855
vine-fungus1857
leaf blister1858
blister1864
peach-blister1866
charbon1882
crown rot1888
melanose1888
plum pocket1888
peach leaf curl1890
brown rot1894
mummy1902
sooty blotch1909
rhubarb disease1911
spur blight1915
red core1936
sclerotinia1950
Sigatoka1958
1894 C. M. Weed Fungi & Fungicides 56 The brown rot of stone fruit is probably familiar to every grower of plums, peaches or cherries in..the United States.
1899 G. Newman Bacteria i. 37 Bacterial brown-rot of potatoes and tomatoes is another plant disease probably due to a bacillus.
1936 J. Percival Agric. Bot. (ed. 8) 816 One of the best examples of bacterial plant diseases is that known as the ‘Brown Rot’..of the cabbage... The disease is caused by a bacterium named Pseudomonas campestris.
1968 Gloss. Terms Timber Preservation (B.S.I.) 9 Brown rot, a type of decay caused by fungi that attack chiefly cellulose, leaving a brown friable residue of unattacked lignin.
brown-rot v. transitive to affect with brown rot; to cause to brown or decay through this disease.
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1899 G. Newman Bacteria i. 37 The bacillus..brown-rots them from within.
Categories »
brown rust n. a disease of wheat caused by a parasitic fungus (Trichobasis rubigo vera).
brown sauce n. a brown-coloured savoury sauce, esp. one made with browned fat and flour; also figurative.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > sauce or dressing > [noun] > other sauces
galantine1304
civya1325
egerdouce1381
gravy?c1390
camelinea1425
chawdronc1440
saffron sauce?a1505
sibber-sauce1556
ferry?1570
oxoleum1574
slabber-sauce1574
saupiquet1656
slapsauce1708
brown sauce1723
bread sauce1727
custard1747
bechamel1789
caper-sauce1791
tomato sauce1804
custard cream1805
allemande1806
sambal1815
Reading sauce1816
Harvey's Sauce1818
velouté sauce1830
suprême sauce1833
parsley sauce1836
agrodolce1838
Worcestershire sauce1843
espagnole1845
pestoa1848
cheese sauce1854
nam prik1857
Worcester sauce1863
Béarnaise sauce1868
Béarnaise1877
Yorkshire Relish1877
sauce mousseline1892
velvet sauce1893
gribiche1897
mornay sauce1900
sugo1906
sofrito1913
chile con queso1916
foo yung1917
marinara1932
pistou1951
hoisin1957
salsa verde1957
pico de gallo1958
sriracha1959
carbonara1962
amatriciana1963
arrabbiata1963
ponzu1966
puttanesca1971
chermoula1974
tikka masala1975
mojo1983
queso1989
1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. Hh To make brown Sauce. Toss up Cives, Parsley, Capers and Anchovies in a Sauce-pan, [etc.].
1854 C. Dickens Hard Times i. xvi. 125 Sweetbread..in a savoury brown sauce was her favourite supper.
1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Add. Brown sauce = Espagnole sauce.
1937 Discovery July 212/1 He had the courage to paint the world as he saw it, leaving out the ‘brown sauce’ in which, till then, most pictures had been smothered.
1986 Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 19/2 Caramel is an essential part of a cook's palette, used to enhance the colour of a brown sauce, gravy or any other fond de cuisine.
brown sherry n. sweet sherry.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > fortified wine, Madeira wine, and sack > [noun] > sherry > types of sherry
doctor1770
antimonial wine1771
Montilla1793
Paxarete1802
pale sherry1803
amontillado1804
golden sherry1830
manzanilla1843
fino1846
Bristol milk1848
brown sherry1849
solera1851
amoroso1859
brown1862
oloroso1876
Bristol cream1886
Tio Pepe1886
cream sherry1964
1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xxxi. 306 A pint bottle of pale ale, and some brown sherry.
1854 E. Twisleton Let. 3 Apr. (1928) x. 171 A Golden Sherry, then true Brown Sherry... The Golden was £70 the butt, the Brown..£100.
1965 Guardian 24 Oct. 5 Sherry..these are the main types..fino, amontillado, oloroso, cream brown.
brown-sleeve adj. wearing brown sleeves.
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1840 R. Browning Sordello iv. 395 I Was just a brown-sleeve brother.
brown snake n. one of several poisonous Australian snakes of the genus Pseudonaja (formerly included in Demansia).
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the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types of
worm-kinc893
slow-wormOE
hagworm?c1475
salpege1569
scytale1572
house snake1608
porphyre1608
ellops1667
sea-serpent1672
tree-serpent1731
boyuna1763
whip-snake1774
garter-snake1775
switch-snake1791
argus-snake1802
rat snake1818
skaapsteker1818
sea-snake1827
short-tail1879
roof-snake1884
brown snake1896
herald-snake1910
night snake1918
parrot snake1931
1896 F. G. Aflalo Sketches Nat. Hist. Austral. 172 The brown snake is found all over Australia and New Guinea.
1931 R. L. Ditmars Snakes of World xiv. 192 The Brown Snake, D[emansia] textilis, broadly distributed and usually four to five feet long, is rated as highly dangerous.
1963 E. Worrell Reptiles Austral. 139 Brown Snakes are fast-moving and easily aroused.
1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 163 It was the longest tiger or brown snake ever killed in the district.
brown-spar n. Mineralogy a variety of dolomite; also applied to varieties of the allied minerals ankerite and magnesite, and to chalybite or native ferrous carbonate.
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the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > carbonates > [noun] > hexagonal > dolomite > varieties
pearl spar1793
miemite1804
rhomb spar1804
gurhofite1816
brown-spar1843
pennite1850
tharandite1850
kutnahorite1907
huntite1953
protodolomite1955
1843 J. E. Portlock Rep. Geol. Londonderry 214 Bitter spar, or Brown spar, occurs in small but well-defined crystals.
brown stout n. a superior kind of porter.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > beer > [noun] > stout
stout1677
brown stout1803
Guinness1834
milk stout1910
1803 R. C. Dallas Hist. Maroons I. iv. 91 To prefer pale small beer to brown stout.
brown sugar n. unrefined or partially refined sugar as opposed to crystallized or loaf sugar.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > sweetener > [noun] > sugar > unrefined or brown sugar
red sugar?a1425
black sugarc1430
panele1562
Canary sugar1568
soft sugar1581
muscovado1592
moist sugar1604
cassonade1657
brown sugar1704
bastard1766
Lisbon1767
bastard sugar1785
moist1809
sand1819
panela1830
piloncillo1844
pilonci1845
penuche1847
1704 London Gaz. No. 4032/4 Her Cargo, consisting chiefly of Brown Sugar.
a1845 R. H. Barham Wedding-day in Ingoldsby Legends (1847) 3rd Ser. 209 As ‘best-refined loaf’ to the coarsest ‘brown sugar.’
brown-tail n. (also brown-tail moth, browned-tail moth) (see quots.).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Lymantriidae > euproctis chrysorrhoea
brown-tail1782
1782 W. Curtis Short Hist. Brown-tail Moth 10 The Brown-tail Moth..is about two-thirds of the size of the Moth produced from the Silk-worm.
1815 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. I. vi. 202 The brown-tailed moth (Bombyx phæorhæa, F.).
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 42 The Brown Tail (Porthesia Auriflua, Stephens) appears in August.
brown-thrasher n. (also brown thrush) ‘the (American) Ferruginous Thrush,.. Turdus rufus’ (Bartlett).
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Mimidae > genus Toxostoma (thrasher)
red thrush1789
thrasher1792
brown-thrasher1810
mocking thrush1829
mountain mockingbird1853
red mavis1854
mavis1865
sage thrasher1884
mock-thrush1890
1810 A. Wilson Amer. Ornithol. II. 83 The Brown Thrush, or Thrasher, of the middle and eastern states.
a1847 C. Mathews Wks. 125 I love the city as dearly as a brown thrasher loves the green tree that sheltered its young.
1853 W. C. Bryant Poems (new ed.) 81 List the brown thrasher's vernal hymn.
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1811 Lexicon Balatronicum at Tommy Brown Tommy; ammunition bread for soldiers; or brown bread given to convicts at the hulks.
a1830 R. B. James in E. Fraser Napoleon the Gaoler (1914) 130 We were obliged to stick to our Brown Tommy.
1890 T. S. Cooper My Life I. i. 3 As for fine wheaten bread, I never saw that, and even ‘Brown Tommie’, as we called it, was at 1s. 8d. a loaf.
1902 Chambers's Jrnl. June 367/1 The regulation bun of eight, ten, or twelve ounces of brown ‘tommy’ is handed in.
brown top n. any of various pasture grasses in Australia and New Zealand (see quots.).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fodder plants > [noun] > grasses used for hay or pasture
windlestrawc1000
red grass1582
spring grass1643
sweet-grass1709
herd-grass1747
Guinea grass1756
vernal grass1762
vernal1771
Paspalum1772
buffalo grass1784
Rhode Island bent1790
red-top1792
finetop1824
kangaroo-grass1827
gamagrass1831
sweet vernal grass1839
yellow-top1839
grama1844
sesame grass1845
sacate1848
Para grass1850
Hungarian1859
alfilaria1860
sacaton1865
Mitchell grass1867
teosinte1877
Landsborough grass1883
turnip-grass1889
brown top1891
ichu1891
manna1897
Rhodes grass1903
Sudan1911
Kikuyu grass1913
never-fail1923
buffel grass1955
1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxii. 294 Erianthus fulvus, Kunth.—Sugar grass or brown top.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 108/2 Some [Queensland] stockholders consider that the ‘Sugar grass’ or ‘Brown Top’ (Pollinia fulva) surpasses them [sc. the ‘Mitchell grasses’] in its quickness of bursting into leaf.
1928 R. G. Stapledon Tour Austral. & N.Z. viii. 53 New Zealand Chewing's fescue and New Zealand Brown top (Agrostis vulgaris) are at present in great demand in America.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Jan. 19/3 The dominant pasture species on this store sheep country are browntop and danthonia.
brown tubes n. plural (see quot.).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Annelida > [noun] > class Gephyrea > group Sipunculoidea > member of > excretory organs of
brown tubes1902
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 637/1 The excretory organs [of the Sipunculoidea]..serve as channels by which the reproductive cells leave the body, and they are sometimes spoken of as ‘brown tubes’.
brown ware n. a common kind of pottery.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > clay compositions > baked clay > pottery or ceramics > [noun] > pottery of specific colour
white ware1577
yellow ware1764
pearl white1779
cream-ware1780
Egyptian black1784
greyware1793
agateware1817
pearl pottery1825
brown ware1836
pearlware1842
black pot1851
cane colour1866
tortoiseshell ware1879
1836 Scenes Commerce by Land & S. 150 Common brown ware..a superior sort is manufactured at Nottingham.
Draft additions 1993
brown bag n. chiefly North American a plain brown paper-bag, esp. one in which a lunch is packed and carried to a work-place, meeting, etc.: frequently attributive, esp. as brown-bag lunch.
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the world > food and drink > food > meal > picnic or packed meal > [adjective]
picnic1802
Gypsy1816
picnicking1842
picnic-ish1854
picnicky1870
packed1906
brown bag1947
take-with1951
tailgate1970
the world > food and drink > food > container for food > [noun] > container for provisions
provision basket1770
sandwich case1815
tommy bag1843
lunchbox1862
bait-poke1863
teabag1898
brown bag1947
tiffin-carrier1960
tea-box1972
the world > food and drink > food > meal > picnic or packed meal > [noun]
picnic1748
tea-treatc1748
a kettle of fish1791
scram1831
picnic meal1839
box supper1851
basket-meeting1859
picnic lunch1865
picnic tea1869
school feast1879
basket picnic1882
box lunch1889
basket dinner1892
basket lunch1905
packed lunch1906
sack lunch1972
brown-bag lunch1976
1947 [see brown-bagger n. at Additions].
1960 N.Y. Times 20 Nov. 2S/4 Wednesday and Thursday are what we call the ‘brown bag’ days. Since the players meet from 10 in the morning to 3.30 in the afternoon, they usually take lunches to practice.
1968 U.S. News & World Rep. 2 Sept. 88/3 Suburbanites are launching a ‘brown bag’ protest... Leaders of the drive are calling on the communities to take their lunch to work.
1976 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 6 Mar. 19/5 Brown bag lunchers, backpackers, picnickers and no-frills airline travellers take heed.
1979 Honolulu Advertiser 8 Jan. a4/3 Senior Citizen Club..Speakers, brown bag lunch, cards.
Draft additions 1993
brown-bag v. chiefly North American (transitive) to carry (one's lunch) in a brown paper-bag; also, to carry (alcoholic drink) concealed in such a bag (to conform to certain U.S. State laws), esp. to a restaurant; also intransitive with it.
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the world > food and drink > food > meal > picnic or packed meal > [verb (transitive)] > take packed lunch
brown-bag1970
1970 C. M. Schulz in J. Dutton Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Bk. 45/1 You had me take my lunch to school in a lunch box... All the other kids were brown-bagging it!
1971 Time 8 Feb. 10/3 The mistrustful Russians brown-bagged their own caviar and vodka.
1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds xi. 249 Luke had brown-bagged two quart bottles of beer from the hotel.
1977 Rolling Stone 16 June 34/1 That other American, the devoted churchgoer who publicly votes against liquor but brown-bags it when he can.
1988 Maclean's 6 June 23/2 Dukakis's reputation as a penny pincher who brown-bags his lunches to the State House..has become a..joke.
Draft additions 1993
brown-bagger n. chiefly North American one who carries a brown bag, esp. containing food or drink; originally U.S. Services' slang, a married man.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married man > [noun]
wedmana1500
brown-bagger1947
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating in specific conditions > [noun] > taking packed lunch > one who
brown-bagger1947
1947 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang Suppl. 13 Brown bagger, a married serviceman.
1958 Oxf. Mail 14 Aug. 6/6 Important are..the graphic descriptions of ‘brown-baggers’—married naval officers who regard the ship as an office.
1967 News & Observer (Raleigh, N. Carolina) 9 Feb. 1/6 The ‘brown-baggers’ got in the first legislative lick..on the explosive liquor issue.
1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 21 Apr. 27/8 The new kind of airline passengers have given birth to a brand new aviation term in the United States. They've been tagged ‘brown baggers’, in reference to their way of carrying their vittles in brown paper bags when they come aboard.
1986 Los Angeles Times 19 June viii. 29/2 Brown-baggers should replace bags daily; never use a soiled or wet bag.
Draft additions 1993
brown-bagging n. and adj.
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the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating in specific conditions > [noun] > taking packed lunch
brown-bagging1966
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating in specific conditions > [adjective] > taking packed lunch
brown-bagging1966
1966 Economist 26 Nov. 921/2 The officially tolerated subterfuge of ‘brown-bagging’—buying the bottle at a state liquor shop and carrying it in a plain brown wrapper to restaurants.
1975 Citizen (Ottawa) 4 Oct. 73/3 The favorite bits for the audience, made up mostly of brown-bagging state employees..was clearly the job description jargon.
1986 Boston Globe 28 May 45/1 Brown-bagging is given a new dimension with Eddie Bauer's lunch sacks.
Draft additions 1993
brown bomber n. [introduced in 1946 as jobs were created for disabled war veterans; the brown uniforms were worn until 1975] Australian slang in New South Wales, an officer employed to enforce parking regulations (see quot. 1953); a traffic warden or ‘parking cop’.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > person who controls traffic > traffic warden
parking attendant1927
traffic warden1928
brown bomber1953
parking warden1966
1953 Sydney Morning Herald 3 Jan. 6/2 The year produced many slang words. Some of them were inherited from previous years but acquired wide usage in the past 12 months... ‘Brown bombers', Sydney parking police, probably derived from the colour of their uniforms and influenced by the use of ‘bomb’ for an old car.
1968 D. Ireland Chantic Bird vi. 61 Next day a brown bomber—a parking cop—gave me a fright.
1983 Austral. Women's Weekly Aug. 20/3 Parking inspectors in Victoria are Grey Ghosts, as they may be in NSW, though some people still call them Brown Bombers.
Draft additions 1997
brownfield n. (also brownfields) originally U.S. used attributively and absol. to designate an (urban) area, which is or has formerly been the site of commercial or industrial activity, esp. one now cleared and available for redevelopment; cf. greenfield adj. 1.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > [noun] > area cleared for redevelopment
brownfield1977
society > occupation and work > workplace > [adjective] > area cleared for redevelopment
brownfield1977
1977 Fortune Jan. 110/1 The new facility would be a brownfield expansion (addition to existing plant), producing about 1.2 million tons of iron.
1984 Science 13 July 151/1 The report supports modernization of smokestack industries and urges that those that are relocated be kept in ‘brownfield’ areas where they will do less environmental damage and supply jobs in already industrialized regions.
1990 RIBA Jrnl. Oct. 25/4 A ‘brown-field’ site out of London, in say Leeds or Sheffield or York, could attract development grants, rates deferrals and provide jobs.
1994 Buffalo (N.Y.) News 23 Oct. (Metro ed.) c7/3 ‘Brown fields’ redevelopment efforts were boosted by the state last week with the announcement of a new program that will limit liability.
1994 Buffalo (N.Y.) News 23 Oct. (Metro ed.) c7/3 Redeveloping existing brown fields makes economic and environmental sense.
Draft additions September 2004
brown cloud n. a thick cloud or fog of airborne pollution; the phenomenon of such clouds forming.
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1977 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 5 May 9/1 The ‘brown cloud’ of pollution over Reno figured prominently in the discussion..of..auto emission controls.
1993 Fort Collins (Colorado) Triangle Rev. 21 Jan. 15 (advt.) A properly tuned car or truck can keep the brown cloud away by reducing emissions as much as 90%.
2002 Guardian 12 Aug. i. 3/1 Yesterday a team of international climatologists..said that they had identified the ‘Asian brown cloud’. This 10 million square mile, three kilometre thick, fluctuating haze of man-made pollutants is now spreading across the whole Asian continent and blocking out up to 15% of the sunlight.
2003 Wilson Q. Spring 83 Brown cloud is not just a phenomenon of cities; it can span an entire continent or ocean basin.
Draft additions June 2014
brown eye n. slang the anus; (also) anal sex.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > anal sex > [noun]
sodomyc1325
sin of Sodom1340
sodomitec1350
sodomitry1531
buggery1533
sodding1868
anal intercourse1886
anal1943
cornholing1955
brown eye1967
anal sex1970
cornhole1970
butt-fucking1974
bumming2001
the world > life > the body > digestive or excretive organs > digestive organs > intestines > [noun] > large intestine > rectum > anus
fundamentc1325
tewelc1386
arseholea1400
hindwina1400
eyec1405
anus?a1425
nachec1440
bung-hole?a1560
siege1561
vent1587
touch-hole1602
nockhole1610
bumhole1611
dung gate1619
asshole1865
cornholec1920
okole1938
chuff1945
ring1949
ring-piece1949
buttholea1960
rump1959
brown eye1967
poephol1969
1967 D. W. Maurer & V. H. Vogel Narcotics & Narcotics Addiction (ed. 3) 345 Browneye, coitus per anum.
1971 F. Hilaire Thanatos xxxvii. 245 They crammed a finger in everybody's ass—now that's a no-no, so they just look. But they can't see nothing except a brown eye looking back.
1981 R. Davies Rebel Angels (1983) 292 I parted his buttocks and—aha! are you expecting something spicy to happen? A bit of the old Brown Eye? You think I may be about to give Urky the keister-stab?
2006 Time Out N.Y. 21 Sept. 175/2 It would be easier for me to cozy up to the brown eye if I didn't have so much evidence of its primary purpose.
Draft additions June 2013
brown fat n. [after German braunes Fettgewebe (J. A. Hammar 1895, in Arch. f. mikroskop. Anat. 45 513)] Zoology and Physiology a specialized type of adipose tissue found esp. in hibernating mammals and the newborns of many species (including humans).Brown fat is highly cellular and vascular, with a high content of lipid and cytochromes, and is capable of generating heat through lipid oxidation.
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1902 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 422 M. Auerbach finds that brown fat occurs in all the typical parts of the body in rats, mice, voles, hares, hedgehogs, moles, &c.
1968 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxxix. 6/2 The distribution and amount of brown fat in the newborn varies among different species.
1990 Green Mag. Nov. 38/1 If there are dramatic changes in air temperature, additional brown fat stabilises the hedgehog's temperature.
2010 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Apr. b9/2 To help adults..lose weight, scientists are looking for ways to increase brown fat, which generates heat and burns calories.
Draft additions February 2005
brown pelican n. [compare French pélican brun (Buffon Hist. Naturelle des Oiseaux (1781) I. 37)] a marine pelican, Pelicanus occidentalis, with a greyish-brown body and a white head and neck, found off the west coast of North and South America and in the Caribbean and off adjacent coasts.
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1780 tr. P. Sonnerat Acct. Voy. Spice-Islands 19 Brown Pelican, Pl.53.
1868 Harper's Mag. July 264/2 Over certain dark spots,..made dark by millions of sardines and other small fish, the brown pelican is ever seen.
2003 Caribbean World Winter 56/2 Brown pelicans, with their two metre plus wingspans, glide for minutes on end with scarcely a wingbeat, between fishing grounds.
Draft additions March 2013
brown rat n. a large rat, Rattus norvegicus, varying in colour from brown to grey and black, found worldwide and regarded as a major pest (see rat n.1 1); also called Norway, common, Hanover, Asiatic, sewer, and grey rat.The brown rat is the source of albino and other domestic breeds.
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1737 Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 5 136 The brown rat is abundant and very destructive.
1801 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. II. 43 In our own island the black and the brown rats, the field and domestic mice are the principal destroyers.
1884 Month Aug. 545 Brown rats delight in low haunts such as cellars, pigsties, and sewers.
1934 J. A. Thomson & E. J. Holmyard Biol. for Everyman II. 1376 The brown rat..is more plastic and tamable, as is well seen in the behaviour of its albino derivative the ‘white rat’.
2011 Independent (Nexis) 21 Nov. The latest estimate has put the UK population of brown rats at between 10 and 20 million.
Draft additions July 2011
brown shoe n. U.S. Navy slang a naval aviator; frequently attributive, esp. in brown-shoe navy. [With reference to the brown shoes which formerly (1918–76) distinguished a naval aviator's uniform from that of a sailor, who wore black shoes (see black shoe n. at black adj. and n. Compounds 1e(a)).]
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society > travel > air or space travel > people who fly in aircraft or spacecraft > [noun] > person in control of aircraft or spacecraft > person in control of aircraft > other aeroplane pilots
test pilot1917
airline pilot1922
bush pilot1936
brown shoe1946
tug pilot1948
1946 G. Cant Great Pacific Victory xiii. 194 Like most carrier men, he is a member of the ‘brown-shoe navy’.
1962 J. E. Quirk No Red Ribbons xxxv. 242 The Air belonged to the Brown Shoes. In his Brown Shoe world Paul was the master.
1998 Interzone July 11/1 I cut my teeth as a brown-shoe Navy man. That is, I was a Navy aviator.
2005 W. B. Johnson & G. P. Harper Becoming Leader Annapolis Way i. 22 ‘Black shoes’ sailed at 30 Knots, whereas ‘brown shoes’ flew at 300 knots.
Draft additions December 2015
brown soup n. any of various types of soup which are brown in appearance, typically made with beef or mutton; in later use sometimes mildly depreciative; cf. white soup n. at white adj. and n. Compounds 1f.
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1734 Young Lady's Compan. in Cookery 153 (heading) To make a Brown Soup or Soup-Sangle.
1844 Proc. Glasgow Philos. Soc. 1843–4 229 He had no breakfast, and at four o'clock had for dinner one pound of beef-steak, half-a-pound of bread, sixteen liquid ounces of brown soup, and half-a-bottle of porter.
1949 P. Frankau Willow Cabin i. vii. 139 The boarding-house dinner was served at seven-fifteen; brown soup, cold boiled beef with a limp salad, prunes and custard.
1959 Home Encycl. 85 Espagnole. Brown soup made with beef or mutton, thickened with onion purée.
2010 J. O'Connor Ghost Light (2011) xiii. 209 King's speech on the wireless. Muddling through. Brown soup. Watered beer. A bunk-up in a doorway.
Draft additions September 2016
brown Windsor n. (more fully brown Windsor soup) thick brown meat soup of a type, now often depicted (sometimes depreciatively) as emblematic of traditional British cookery.
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1926 Portsmouth Evening News 24 Feb. 3 (advt.) Soup—Tomato or Brown Windsor.
1943 M. Dickens Fancy xiii. 222 He shared a table with a woman whose idea of a suitable four o'clock meal was brown Windsor soup followed by prunes and custard.
1957 Daily Mirror 24 Jan. 9/4 It should make some provincial English eating-places pull their culinary socks up—and remove the old Brown Windsor from the menu.
1966 S. J. Perelman Chicken Inspector No. 23 211 If I never again taste brown Windsor soup, bubble and squeak, or the custard dessert called Spotted Dog, I shan't repine.
2007 Daily Tel. 27 Dec. 31/1 Readers found themselves regaled by such characters as..the last Wali of Swat, who had a fondness for brown Windsor soup.
Draft additions March 2019
Designating energy produced by means considered environmentally harmful or hazardous, such as that obtained from fossil fuels or nuclear fission, as distinguished from energy obtained from renewable sources. Chiefly in brown energy, brown power. Cf. green adj. 13b and green energy n. at green adj. and n.1 Compounds 1d(e).
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1997 Electr. World (N.Y.) Sept. 41/3 For each hour of every day, the price on the APX Green Power Market will reflect the existing price for ‘brown’ power, plus a market-determined green power premium.
2003 Amer. City & County (Nexis) 1 Aug. 8 The wind and solar power is commingled in a regional grid, which also contains brown power and hydropower.
2006 J. Twidell & T. Weir Renewable Energy Resources (ed. 2) xvii. vi. 549 There are two curves for brown energy in Figure 17.2: the more expensive includes the social and environmental costs.
2014 N. Klein This changes Everything (2015) Introd. 24 What concerns me is less the mechanics of the transition—the shift from brown to green energy, from sole-rider cars to mass transit, from sprawling exurbs to dense and walkable cities—than the power and ideological roadblocks that have so far prevented any of these long understood solutions from taking hold on anything close to the scale required.
Draft additions December 2013
brown powder n. now chiefly historical a brown-coloured type of gunpowder; = cocoa powder n. 2.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > ammunition for firearms > [noun] > explosive for use with firearms > specific
serpentine powder1497
musket powder1644
black powder1793
percussion powder1819
wood powder1870
musketry powder1876
Schultze gunpowder1881
sawdust-powder1883
cocoa powder1884
brown powder1886
melinite1886
lyddite1888
rifleite1891
nitro powder1892
turpinite1895
nitro1900
shimose1904
1885 Globe 31 Jan. 2/3 The War Department has adopted the new brown gunpowder, known as the ‘cocoa’ powder..manufactured at..Waltham Abbey.]
1886 Engineering 7 May 447/1 Another great advantage the brown powder possesses is that it gives off a very much smaller volume of smoke.
1918 H. C. Ramsey Elem. Naval Ordnance & Gunnery x. 95 Black powder is still used to a limited extent for special purposes, and brown powder was used to a limited extent until a few years ago.
2008 J. S. Wallace Chem. Anal. Firearms, Ammunition, & Gunshot Residue 60 Brown powder (cocoa powder)..was the most successful form of black powder exhibiting better burning characteristics.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
brownv.
/braʊn/, U.S. /braʊn/ 1. intransitive. To become brown.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > making or becoming brown > become brown [verb (intransitive)]
brownc1300
c1300 K. Alis. 3293 Whan note brounith in haselrys.
1859 C. J. Lever Davenport Dunn 26 ‘That delicious potato-cake that I see browning..before the fire.’
2. transitive. To make brown; to roast brown; to give (by a chemical process) a dull brown lustre to gun-barrels or other polished iron surfaces.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > subject to chemical reactions or processes [verb (transitive)] > subject to named chemical reaction or process > subject to miscellaneous other processes
reduce?a1425
weaken1540
projecta1550
brown1570
spiritualize1593
colliquate1603
redisperse1621
imbibe1626
educe1651
to cant off1658
part1663
regalize1664
dint1669
roche1679
subtilizea1722
neutralize1744
develop1756
evolve1772
extricate1790
separate1805
unburn1815
leach1860
methylate1864
nitrate1872
nitre1880
sweeten1885
deflocculate1909
hybridize1959
the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > making or becoming brown > make brown [verb (transitive)]
brown1570
umber1612
embrown1725
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook [verb (transitive)] > brown
brown1769
salamander1878
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Si v/1 To Broune, obfuscare.
1769 E. Raffald Experienced Eng. House-keeper iv. 118 Take off the Skin and Brown it.
1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 107 The operation of browning a gun barrel.
1862 G. W. Thornbury Life J. M. W. Turner II. 319 The hot Italian sun had parched and browned him.
3. [ < brown n. 4] To fire indiscriminately at (a covey of birds or a mass of men).
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the world > food and drink > hunting > shooting > shoot game [verb (transitive)] > manner or type of
snap1828
pot1860
brown1873
snapshot1928
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > fire (a gun) [verb (transitive)] > assail with gunfire > in specific manner
ricochet1758
snipe1782
brown1873
to blaze (out) at1909
1873 Sat. Rev. Sept. 310 We seldom did ourselves anything like justice until the coveys were out on the feed towards evening, when we were apt to brown them as they rose in little clouds.
1885 H. R. Haggard King Solomon's Mines xiii Good..began to fire,..industriously ‘browning’ the dense mass before him with a Winchester repeater.
1888 H. R. Haggard Col. Quaritch xxii I suppose..that the last covey twisted up and you browned them.
1921 Blackwood's Mag. Jan. 122/2 He waited till the troop was some hundred and fifty yards away, and then he ‘browned’ it.
1962 B. Scott James Asking for Trouble xix. 145 We all shot a little wildly..one guest, a German, browned the beaters.
Draft additions June 2021
intransitive. Of a population, country, community, group, etc.: to develop a higher proportion of people who are not primarily of white European origin or descent.Cf. earlier browning n.2 Additions.
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1989 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Disp. 24 Nov. 1 b/1 [He] has lived most of his life in the Shaw neighborhood, in south St. Louis, among white, working-class people. Recently his neighborhood has been browning.
1992 J. K. Tarvers Teaching Writing (ed. 3) v. 21 America is ‘browning’ as well as ‘greying’; our classrooms will continue to provide more variety semester by semester.
2015 Radio Times 15 Aug. (South/West ed.) 27/2 Generationally, more and more Americans are finally coming to terms with the idea..that the country is slowly browning.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.a1300
adj.a1000
v.c1300- overfatigued
- overfatigueing
- overfatigues
- overfatiguing
- overfatten
- overfattened
- overfault
- overfavor
- overfavorable
- overfavorably
- overfavored
- overfavoring
- overfavors
- overfavour
- overfavourable
- overfavourably
- overfavours
- overfawned
- overfear
- overfeared
- overfearful
- overfearfulness
- overfearing
- overfears
- overfeast