browse

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Middle English browsen, from Old French brouster, broster (“to nibble off buds, sprouts, and bark; browse”), from brost (“a sprout, shoot, bud”), from a Germanic source, perhaps Frankish *brust (“shoot, bud”), from Proto-Germanic *brustiz (“bud, shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell, sprout”). Cognate with Bavarian Bross, Brosst (“a bud”), Old Saxon brustian (“to sprout”). Doublet of brut, breast, and brush.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

browse (third-person singular simple present browses, present participle browsing, simple past and past participle browsed)

  1. To scan, to casually look through in order to find items of interest, especially without knowledge of what to look for beforehand.
    I'm just browsing around.
    I stopped in several bookstores to browse.
  2. To move about while sampling, such as with food or products on display.
  3. (transitive, computing) To navigate through hyperlinked documents on a computer, usually with a browser.
  4. (intransitive, of an animal) To move about while eating parts of plants, especially plants other than pasture, such as shrubs or trees.
    • 1997, Colorado State Forest Service
      Also, when planting to provide a source of browse for wintering deer and elk, protect seedlings from browsing during the first several years; an electric fence enclosure can offer effective protection.
  5. (archaic, transitive) To feed on, as pasture; to pasture on; to graze.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

browse (countable and uncountable, plural browses)

  1. (uncountable) Young shoots and twigs.
  2. (uncountable) Fodder for cattle and other animals.
    • 1997, Colorado State Forest Service
      Also, when planting to provide a source of browse for wintering deer and elk, protect seedlings from browsing during the first several years; an electric fence enclosure can offer effective protection.
    • 2007, Texas Parks and Wildlife Service
      In the Panhandle Area, bison eat browse that includes mesquite and elm.
  3. (countable) That which one browses through; something to read.
    • 1899, Rudyard Kipling, Stalky & Co.
      Here he buried himself in a close-printed, thickish volume which had been his chosen browse for some time.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Verb[edit]

browse (imperative brows, present browser, past browsede, past participle browset)

  1. (computing) to browse

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

browse

  1. first-person singular present indicative of browsen
  2. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of browsen
  3. imperative of browsen

German[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

browse

  1. inflection of browsen:
    1. first-person singular present
    2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
    3. singular imperative
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