Forms: 1 brú (pl. brúa), 2 bruw(e, 3 brouwe, brou, bruu, 3–4 brue, 4 brwe, brewe, 4–7 browe, 5 brouȝ, broue, 5– brow. [OE. brú fem., inflected on the type of an OTeut. brûâ- str. fem., but prob. only an OE. accession to the â- declension of a WGer. or primitive OE. brú of the type of cú, sú:—OTeut. *brû-s (= Skr. bhrū-s eye-brow, Gr. ὀφρύ-ς). The original sense appears to have been ‘eye-brow,’ but it must have been extended at an early date from the hair over the eyes to that on the eye-lids, the ‘eye-lashes,’ for this was the normal sense in OE., the eye-brows being distinguished as ofer-brúa i.e., over-eye-lashes, or otherwise contextually. From the eye-lashes, the name appears to have been transferred step by step to the eye-lids, the eye-brows, the prominences of the forehead, and finally to the forehead as a whole. See also BREE sb.1, and cf. BEETLE-BROWED.
ON. brú fem. ‘bridge’ was perhaps the same word, with a transferred sense; but the ON. word actually used for ‘eye-brow’ was brún, pl. brýnn, conjectured to be a secondary form from brû- founded on the gen. pl. brú-na. (Cf. mod.G. braune brow, founded on the pl. braun, brauen, MHG. brâwen, pl. of brâwe.) In the other Teutonic langs. *brû- is lost, and its place supplied by *brǣwâ-; thus OHG. brâwa eye-lashes, obarun brâwa, ubar-brâwa, eye-brows, mod.G. augen-braue, -braune (see above) eye-brow, wimper, MHG. wintbrâwe eye-lash, Du. wenkbraauw eye-brow, all of which belong to OTeut. *brǣwâ-, WGer. brâw, OE. brǽw; see BREE. (It appears then that the Eng. brow and Ger. braue, Du. braauw are not even cognate.)]
† 1. The fringe of hair along the eye-lid, the eyelash, L. cilium. Only in OE.
a. 1000. Riddles, xli. 100 (Gr.). Ne ic breaʓa ne bruna brucan moste.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 156. Cilia, brua. Ibid., 290. Cilium, bruwa.
† 2. The eye-lid, L. palpebra. Usually pl. Obs.
(Some of the quotations are not certain.)
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 213. At drinche … þere beð … winrede bruwes.
c. 1205. Lay., 22283. [Hi] heouen up heore bruwen. Ibid. (c. 1275), 18374. Þa heng he his brouwes [c. 1205 breowen] adun.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter x[i]. 5. His brwes [palpebræ] askes mennes sones. Ibid., cxxxi[i]. 4. If I gif to min eghen slapinge, And to mi browes [palpebris] napping.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 817. His browes heldes doun wyth-alle.
a. 1500. Med. Receipts, in Rel. Ant., I. 54. Qwen his broues hildes doune.
3. ‘The arch of hair over the eye’ (J.). Usually pl. In later use including the super-orbital ridge, and especially the skin, on which the hair grows. Now usually EYE-BROW. To knit, bend one’s brows: to frown.
[c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 156. Supercilia, oferbrua. Ibid., Ags. Voc., ibid., 290. Intercilium [cf. Gr. μεσόφρυον] betweoh bruwum.]
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8079. Lang and side þair brues wern And hinged all a-bout þair hern.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. ix. (1495), 114. The browes ben callyd supercilia the ouer lyddes for they ben sette aboue the eye lyddes…. The browes ben closyd with moche heere.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 261. His browes was like litel buskes.
1575. J. Still, Gamm. Gurton, V. ii. I am as true … as skin betwene thy browes.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. ii. 3. Why doth the Great Duke Humfrey knit his browes?
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess., xx. We will pull our browes, and indure any paine to imitate the fashion.
1619. R. West, Bk. Demeanor, 29, in Babees Bk., 292. Let not thy browes be backward drawn, it is a signe of pride, Exalt them not, it shewes a hart most arrogant beside.
1715. Pope, Ep. Miss T. Blount, 49. Vex’d to be still in town, I knit my brow.
1830. Tennyson, Madeline, iii. O’er black brows drops down A sudden-curved frown. Ibid. (1832), Œnone, 74. The charm of married brows.
b. In the same sense as 5 b.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14747. To blaken þan bigan þair brous [v.r. bruus, brewes]. [See BLACK v. 1 for other instances.]
4. pl. The prominences of the forehead on either side above the eyes. Now poetically = next sense.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. i. 392. Helpe! hold his browes. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., V. iii. 82. Did not they Put on my Browes this wreath of Victorie?
1697. Dryden, Virg. Eclog., VI. 35. Ægle … His Brows with Berries, and his Temples dies.
a. 1725. Pope, Iliad, XI. 53. Last o’er his brows his fourfold helm he placed.
1822. W. Irving, Braceb. Hall, xxvi. 235. The officer … placed it [a wreath] upon the blushing brows of his mistress.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxvi. 8. Fan my brows and blow The fever from my cheek.
fig. 1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 38. Our Cannon shall be bent Against the browes of this resisting towne.
† b. ? Part of a wig covering the brows. Obs.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., Mor. Wisd., i. heading, Vpon his hed a cheveler with browes.
5. The whole part of the face above the eyes, the forehead. (L. frons.)
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 289. With mony wound … In breist, in brow, in bak.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 339. She kissed his brow, his cheek, his chin.
1611. Bible, Isa. xlviii. 4. Thy necke is an yron sinew, and thy brow brasse.
1742. Pope, Dunciad, IV. 141. His beaver’d brow a birchen garland wears.
1789. Burns, John Anderson, i. Your bonie brow was brent.
1872. Ruskin, Eagle’s N., § 156. The essential point in an eagle’s head—the projection of the brow.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. i. 2i And strong, though troubled, is her breadth of brow.
fig. 1595. Shaks., John, V. vi. 17. Heere walke I, in the black brow of night.
1865. Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 185. The sky has settled down again in frowning gloom. A black and threatening brow it wears.
b. esp. as the seat of the facial expressions of joy, sorrow, shame, anxiety, resolution, etc. poetic.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 749. To cloak offences with a cunning brow. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., III. ii. 78. What damned error, but some sober brow will blesse it.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 886. To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 315. War in each breast, and freedom on each brow.
1802. Wordsw., Sonn., To Toussaint L’Ouverture, 7. Wear rather in thy bonds a chearful brow.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., II. 178. Joy like thy bride’s, should on thy brow have sate.
1817. Byron, Manf., II. ii. 25. Thy calm clear brow Wherein is glass’d serenity of soul.
1843. Macaulay, Virginia, 17. That brow of hate, that mouth of scorn.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. iii. 83. By this Face, This seeming Brow of Iustice did he winne the hearts of all.
1646. Buck, Rich. III., 78. His patience is deepe hypocrisie … and his friendship meerely a Court brow.
1694. Strype, Cranmer, III. viii. 330. A Book writ with a Brow of Brass, so did it abound with confident Untruths.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., x. The old man, who had in his early youth resisted the brow of military and civil tyranny.
† d. fig. An unabashed brow; confidence, effrontery; cf. ‘cheek,’ ‘face’ in slang use. Obs.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. xi. 290. Men of more brow then brain.
a. 1646. J. Gregory, Posthuma (1671), 87. Learned men, I confess, but of a strange brow, to pretend to the World, [etc.].
1680. Burnet, Rochester, 172. But they have not Brow enough to say it.
1720. Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., I. II. 137. With what Brow can I … ask him?
† e. Specious look or appearance. Obs.
1659. J. Harrington, Lawgiving, III. iii. (1700), 454. Whether the threaten’d Punishments … tho thro unacquaintance they may at first sight have som brow, would not … expire in scorn.
f. Sc. To have no brow (broo) of: not to like the look of, not to be favorably impressed by.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., vii. ‘Thir ridings and wappen-schawings … I hae nae broo o’ them ava—I can find nae warrant for them.’ Ibid. (1818), Hrt. Midl., xxv. ‘I had never muckle broo o my gudeman’s gossips.’
1823. Galt, Entail, III. iii. 41. I hae nae brow o’ sic worldly hypocrisy.
1887. Chr. Leader, 24 Feb., 114/3. ‘Man,’ said the fisherman, ‘I hae nae brew o’ thae English banks ava.’
6. The projecting edge of a cliff or hill, standing over a precipice or steep. (Arising out of sense 3: though now sometimes associated with sense 5.)
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 655. Bacward than be a browȝ, Twenty fote he garde hyme goo.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 53. On the brow o’ th’ Sea Stand rankes of People.
1611. Bible, Luke iv. 29. & led him vnto the brow [marg. edge] of the hill … that they might cast him downe headlong.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 159. The wary Ploughman, on the Mountain’s Brow, Undams his watry Stores.
a. 1725. Pope, Odyss., V. 614. The Wood, Whose shady horrors on a rising brow Way’d high.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, I. 286. If a traveller Appear’d at distance coming o’er the brow.
1872. Jenkinson, Guide Eng. Lakes (1879), 200. The path … runs along the brow of the cliff to the summit.
b. north. dial. A slope, an acclivity, an ascent; = Sc. brae. E.g., Everton Brow, Shaw’s Brow, two steep streets in Liverpool.
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., 38. He scrambled up … a sandy brow.
† 7. A projecting edge (of a pillar, wall, etc.); a ledge; a verge. ? Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 595. The brows of pillars and wals, to cast off rain.
1641. Milton, Reform. in Eng., I. Wks. 1847, 6/1. The Table of Communion, now become a Table of Separation, stands like an exalted platform upon the brow of the Quire, fortify’d with bulwark and barricado.
8. Coal-Mining. A gallery in a coal-mine running across the face of the coal.
9. ellipt. Brow-antler (see next).
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., ii. 62. You may know … what his rights mean, if he has them, brow, bay, tray and points.
10. Comb., as brow-bone, -pendant; brow-bound, -sick, -wreathed adjs. etc.; brow-ague, ‘strictly supra-orbital neuralgia of malarious origin. Now used as synonymous with Hemicrania or Megrim’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); brow-antler, the lowest tine of the horn of a stag, the ‘antler’ in its original sense; brow-band, a band worn across the brow; spec. the band of a bridle, etc., which passes in front of a horse’s forehead; † brow-bending, frowning; brow-bent a., with bent brows, frowning (see 3); † brow-lid, an eye-lid; † brow-piece (Arch.), a beam over a door, a breastsummer; brow-point, = brow-antler; brow-post (Arch.), see quot.; brow-snag, -tine = brow-antler; brow-stone (cf. brow-post). See also BROWBEAT, etc.
1855. Holden, Hum. Osteol. (1878), 65. It is this nerve which is affected in *‘brow ague.’
1647. W. Browne, Polex., I. 239. With two thrusts of his *brow-ancklers, he was layd flat on the sand.
1596. Colse, Penelope (1880), 169. Brow-antlers with her Ile exchange.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. xiv. (1660), 168. Skilfull Woodmen … do call the Lowest Antlier the Brow Antelier.
1864. Derby Mercury, 14 Dec., 2/6. Curious articles made from the brow antler of a stag’s horn.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 17 b. With matrimonie commeth … the soure *browbendyng of your wiffes kinsfolkes.
1796. Coleridge, To Yng. Friend, 28. His muse’s witching charm Muttering *brow-bent.
c. 1450. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 675. Hoc supercilium, a *browbone.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. ii. 102. He … for his meed Was *Brow-bound with the Oake.
1832. Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., 128. A queen … Brow-bound with burning gold.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 77. One eyelid or *browlidde.
1611. Cotgr., Contrefrontail, the *brow-peece, or vpmost post of a dore.
1877. A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, xix. 545. The bride … wears a gold *brow-pendant and nose-ring.
1884. Jefferies, Red Deer, iv. 75. The stag … with a blow of the formidable *brow-point, ripped the hound open.
1706. Phillips, *Brow-post, (among Carpenters) an overthwart, or cross-Beam.
a. 1641. Suckling, Prol. Author’s, Wks. 1709, 73 (R.).
| But yet a gracious Influence from you | |
| May alter Nature in our *Brow-sick Crew. |
1761. Lond. Mag., XXX. 17. The laying of the kennels without *brow-stones.
1880. Geol. Mag., 450. Distinguished … by the presence of a *brow-tyne close to the burr.
