brow

See also: Brow and brów

English

Etymology

From Middle English browe, from Old English brū, from Proto-West Germanic *brāwu, from Proto-Germanic *brūwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃bʰrúHs (“brow”).

Compare Middle Irish brúad, Tocharian B pärwāne (“eyebrows”), Lithuanian bruvìs, Serbo-Croatian obrva, Russian бровь (brovʹ), Ancient Greek ὀφρύς (ophrús), Sanskrit भ्रू (bhrū)), Persian ابرو‎ (abru, “eyebrow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bɹaʊ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Noun

brow (plural brows)

1. 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, [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.

2. The first tine of an antler's beam.
3. 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, [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^[1]:

     Mr. Banks’ panama hat was in one hand, while the other drew a handkerchief across his perspiring brow.

4. The projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill.

   the brow of a precipice

5. (mining) A gallery in a coal mine running across the face of the coal.
6. (figurative) Aspect; appearance.
7. (nautical) The gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
8. (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

• French: andouiller d’œil m, maître andouiller m, andouiller de massacre m

forehead — see forehead

the projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill

• Bulgarian: надвиснала скала (nadvisnala skala)
• Finnish: reuna (fi), kieleke (fi)
• Irish: mala f
• Italian: ciglio (it) m, orlo (it) m, cima (it) f
• Latin: supercilium
• Maori: taumata, kāniuniu
• Plautdietsch: Launtrigjen m
• Portuguese: pico (pt)

the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay

• Bulgarian: сходня f (shodnja)
• Finnish: laskusilta (fi)
• Italian: passerella da sbarco
• Russian: трап (ru) m (trap)

the hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp

• Finnish: ramppi (fi)
• Italian: passerella da sbarco

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

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} brovo (io)

Verb

brow (third-person singular simple present brows, present participle browing, simple past and past participle browed)

1. To bound or limit; to be at, or form, the edge of.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 19, lines 531–532:

     Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts / That brow this bottom glade.

Middle English

Noun

brow

1. Alternative form of browe

Norn

Etymology

From Old Norse brauð, from Proto-Germanic *braudą. Compare Shetlandic brau.

Noun

brow

1. (Orkney) bread

Plautdietsch

Adjective

brow

1. brave, audacious, daring, courageous, dauntless, intrepid