browbeat

See also: brow-beat

English

WOTD – 12 January 2008

Alternative forms

• brow-beat

Etymology

brow +‎ beat

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaʊ.biːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

browbeat (third-person singular simple present browbeats, present participle browbeating, simple past browbeat, past participle browbeaten)

1. (transitive) To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.

   Though the teacher browbeat all the children, they still acted out during the lesson.

Synonyms

• (to bully in an intimidating way): bully, cow, domineer, intimidate

Related terms

• browbeater

Translations

to bully in an intimidating way

• Bulgarian: сплашвам (bg) (splašvam)
• Catalan: intimidar (ca)
• Czech: zastrašovat
• Dutch: intimideren (nl), inschuchteren, bruuskeren (nl)
• Finnish: pelotella (fi), tyrannisoida (fi), pomottaa (fi)
• French: intimider (fr), brusquer (fr)
• German: einschüchtern (de)

• Greek: αποπαίρνω (el) (apopaírno)
• Polish: zastraszyć, zastraszać (pl)
• Portuguese: intimidar (pt)
• Russian: запу́гивать (ru) impf (zapúgivatʹ), пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), страща́ть (ru) impf (straščátʹ), наводи́ть страх (ru) impf (navodítʹ strax)
• Scottish Gaelic: sàraich
• Spanish: intimidar (es)
• Swedish: köra med, tyrannisera (sv)

References

• browbeat in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• browbeat in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913