English

Noun

brown study ‎(plural brown studies)

1. (idiomatic, dated) A melancholy mood accompanied by deep thought; a moody daydream.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     So gathering up the shavings with another grin, and throwing them into the great stove in the middle of the room, he went about his business, and left me in a brown study.

   • 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box":

     Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation, I had tossed aside the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair, I fell into a brown study. Suddenly my companion's voice broke in upon my thoughts.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 428:

     But Quatrefages glared at his plate in a brown study.

Usage notes

Usually said as "somebody is in a brown study".

Translations