brown definition | Dictionary.com

brown

[broun]

noun, adjective, -er, -est, verb

–noun

1.	a dark tertiary color with a yellowish or reddish hue.

2.	a person whose skin has a dusky or light-brown pigmentation.

–adjective

3.	of the color brown.

4.	(of animals) having skin, fur, hair, or feathers of that color.

5.	sunburned or tanned.

6.	(of persons) having the skin naturally pigmented a brown color.

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

7.	to make or become brown.

8.	to fry, sauté, or scorch slightly in cooking: to brown onions before adding them to the stew. The potatoes browned in the pan.

—Verb phrase

9.	brown out, to subject to a brownout: The power failure browned out the southern half of the state.

—Idioms

10.	browned off, Slang. angry; fed up.

11.	do it up brown, Informal. to do thoroughly: When they entertain, they really do it up brown.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE brūn; c. D bruin, G braun, ON brūnn; akin to Lith brúnas brown

Related forms:

brownish, browny, adjective

brownness, noun

Brown

[broun]

–noun

1.	Charles Brock⋅den [brok-duhn] Show IPA , 1771–1810, U.S. novelist.

2.	Clifford (“Brownie”), 1930–56, U.S. jazz trumpeter.

3.	Edmund Gerald, Jr. (Jerry), born 1938, U.S. politician: governor of California 1975–83.

4.	Herbert Charles, 1912–2004, U.S. chemist, born in England: Nobel prize 1979.

5.	James Nathaniel (Jimmy), born 1936, U.S. football player and actor.

6.	John (“Old Brown of Osawatomie”), 1800–59, U.S. abolitionist: leader of the attack at Harpers Ferry, where he was captured, tried for treason, and hanged.

7.	Margaret Wise, 1910–52, U.S. author noted for early-childhood books.

8.	Olympia, 1835–1926, U.S. women's-rights activist and Universalist minister: first American woman ordained by a major church.

9.	Robert, 1773–1858, Scottish botanist.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To brown

brown (broun)

n. Any of a group of colors between red and yellow in hue that are medium to low in lightness and low to moderate in saturation.
adj. brown·er, brown·est

Of the color brown.
1. Having a brownish or dark skin color.
2. Often Offensive Of or being a person of nonwhite origin.
Deeply suntanned.

tr. & intr.v. browned, brown·ing, browns

To make or become brown.
To cook until brown.

Phrasal Verb(s):
brown off Chiefly British Slang To make angry or irritated.

[Middle English, from Old English brūn; see bher-² in Indo-European roots.]
brown'ish adj., brown'ness n.

Brown (broun)

American writer and editor who is considered America's first professional novelist. Brown is best known for his Gothic romances, such as Wieland (1798), Ormund (1799), and Jane Talbot (1801).

Brown, Clifford Known as "Brownie." 1930-1956.
American jazz trumpeter whose work, especially as a member of the quintet he formed with Max Roach (1954-1956), influenced jazz improvisation and bop styles.

Brown, Herbert Charles 1912-2004.
British-born American chemist. He shared a 1979 Nobel Prize for discoveries in the chemistry of boron and phosphorus.

Brown, James 1933-2006.
American singer. First popular in the 1950s with hits like "Please, Please, Please," he is often called the "Godfather of Soul."

Brown, James Nathaniel Known as "Jim." Born 1936.
American football player. A running back with the Cleveland Browns (1957-1971), he led the National Football League in rushing for eight of his nine seasons and is listed as one of the NFL all-time rushing leaders.

Brown, John 1800-1859.
American abolitionist. In 1859 Brown and 21 followers captured the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry as part of an effort to liberate Southern slaves. His group was defeated, and Brown was hanged after a trial in which he won sympathy as an abolitionist martyr.

Brown, Margaret Wise 1910-1952.
American author of children's picture books, including the Noisy Book series (1939) and Goodnight Moon (1947).

Brown, Olympia 1835-1926.
American Universalist minister and suffragist who was the first woman in the United States to be ordained in the ministry of an established denomination (1863).

Brown, Robert 1773-1858.
British botanist who made an extensive collection of plants during a voyage to Australia. His observation of the irregular movement of pollen grains suspended in water led to the concept known as Brownian motion.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Brown

Brown\, a. [Compar. Browner; superl. Brownest.] [OE. brun, broun, AS. br?n; akin to D. bruin, OHG. br?n, Icel. br?nn, Sw. brun, Dan. bruun, G. braun, Lith. brunas, Skr. babhru. [root]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

Brown\, n. 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

Brown\, v. 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

Brown\, v. i. To become brown.

Language Translation for : brown

Spanish: marrón,

German: braun,

Japanese: 褐色の

More Translations »

brown

O.E. brun "dark," only developing a definite color sense 13c., from P.Gmc. *brunaz, from PIE *bher- "shining, brown" (cf. Lith. beras "brown"), related to *bheros "dark animal" (cf. beaver, bear, and Gk. phrynos "toad," lit. "the brown animal"). The O.E. word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," now preserved only in burnish. The Gmc. word was adopted into Romantic (cf. M.L. brunus, It., Sp. bruno, Fr. brun). Colloquial brown-nose (1939) is "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is sought" [Webster, 1961]. Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, first recorded 1785.

Brown (broun), Michael. Born 1941.

American geneticist. He shared a 1985 Nobel Prize for discoveries related to cholesterol metabolism.

brown

In addition to the idioms beginning with brown, also see do up (brown).

brown

any of a group of delicate butterflies in the family Nymphalidae (order Lepidoptera) that are abundant during summer months in the woods and grasslands of the United States and Europe. The adults are dull brown or grey, while the larvae possess small, forked tail-like appendages on their abdomens. Adult butterflies have brown wings with a span of 5 to 6 cm (2 to 2.4 inches) and conspicuous circular markings on them. These false "eyes" on the wings may serve to frighten or distract predatory birds.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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