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Webster 1913 Edition

Brown

Brown

(broun)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Browner
;
sup
erl.
Brownest
.]
[OE.
brun
,
broun
, AS.
br[GREEK]n
; akin to D.
bruin
, OHG.
br[GREEK]n
, Icel.
br[GREEK]nn
, Sw.
brun
, Dan.
bruun
, G.
braun
, Lith.
brunas
, Skr.
babhru
. √93, 253. Cf.
Bruin
,
Beaver
,
Burnish
,
Brunette
.]
Of a dark color, of various shades between black and red or yellow.
Cheeks
brown
as the oak leaves.
Longfellow.
Brown Bess
,
the old regulation flintlock smoothbore musket, with bronzed barrel, formerly used in the British army.
–
Brown bread
(a)
Dark colored bread; esp. a kind made of unbolted wheat flour, sometimes called in the United States Graham bread.
“He would mouth with a beggar though she smelt brown bread and garlic.”
Shak.
(b)
Dark colored bread made of rye meal and Indian meal, or of wheat and rye or Indian; rye and Indian bread.
[U.S.]
–
Brown coal
,
wood coal. See
Lignite
.
–
Brown hematite
or
Brown iron ore
(Min.)
,
the hydrous iron oxide, limonite, which has a brown streak. See
Limonite
.
–
Brown holland
.
See under
Holland
.
–
Brown paper
,
dark colored paper, esp. coarse wrapping paper, made of unbleached materials.
–
Brown spar
(Min.)
,
a ferruginous variety of dolomite, in part identical with ankerite.
–
Brown stone
.
See
Brownstone
.
–
Brown stout
,
a strong kind of porter or malt liquor.
–
Brown study
,
a state of mental abstraction or serious reverie.
W. Irving.

Brown

,
Noun.
A dark color inclining to red or yellow, resulting from the mixture of red and black, or of red, black, and yellow; a tawny, dusky hue.

Brown

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Browned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Browning
.]
1.
To make brown or dusky.
A trembling twilight o’er welkin moves,
Browns
the dim void and darkens deep the groves.
Barlow.
2.
To make brown by scorching slightly;
as, to
brown
meat or flour
.
3.
To give a bright brown color to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coat of oxide on their surface.
Ure.

Brown

,
Verb.
I.
To become brown.

Webster 1828 Edition

Brown

BROWN

,
Adj.
Dusky; of a dark or dusky color, inclining to redness; but the shades are various, as Spanish brown, London brown, clove brown, tawny brown. Brown results from a mixture of red, black and yellow.

BROWN

,
Verb.
T.
To make brown or dusky.
A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves,
Browns the dim void, and darkens deep the groves.

Definition 2024

Brown

Brown

See also: brown

English

Proper noun

Brown ‎(plural Browns)

  1. A common surname​.

Brown

  1. Brown University

Translations

See also

Scots

Proper noun

Brown

  1. A surname​.

brown

brown

See also: Brown

English

Noun

brown ‎(plural browns)

  1. A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.
    The browns and greens in this painting give it a nice woodsy feel.‎
    brown colour:    
  2. (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points.
  3. Black tar heroin.
  4. (sometimes capitalised) A person of Middle Eastern, Latino or South Asian descent; a brown-skinned person; someone of mulatto or biracial appearance.

Translations

Adjective

brown ‎(comparative browner or more brown, superlative brownest or most brown)

  1. Having a brown colour.
  2. (obsolete) Gloomy.
  3. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.

Antonyms

  • (having brown as its colour): nonbrown

Translations

Descendants

Verb

brown ‎(third-person singular simple present browns, present participle browning, simple past and past participle browned)

  1. (intransitive) To become brown.
    Fry the onions until they brown.‎
  2. (cooking, transitive) To cook something until it becomes brown.
    Brown the onions in a large frying pan.‎
  3. (intransitive, transitive) To tan.
    Light-skinned people tend to brown when exposed to the sun.‎
  4. (transitive) To make brown or dusky.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Barlow, (Please provide the title of the work):
      A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves, / Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves.
  5. (transitive) To give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ure to this entry?)
  6. (demography, transitive, intransitive, slang, ethnic slur, usually derogatory, offensive) To turn progressively more Middle Eastern, Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region.
    the browning of America‎

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Colors in English · colors, colours (layout · text)
     red      green      yellow      cream      white
     crimson      magenta      teal      lime      pink
     indigo      blue      orange      gray, grey      violet
     black      purple      brown      azure, sky blue      cyan

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowing from English brown.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /brɔu̯n/

Adjective

brown ‎(feminine singular brown, plural brown)

  1. brown

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
brown frown mrown unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See also

Colors in Welsh · lliwiau (layout · text)
     coch      gwyrdd      melyn      melynwyn      gwyn
     rhudd      ?      ?      ?      pinc
     ?      glas      oren, melyngoch      llwyd      fioled
     du      porffor      brown      asur, gwynlas      gwyrddlas

Etymology

Originally a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark complexion.

Pronunciation

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