brow

Middle English browe, from Old English brū, from Proto-Germanic *brūwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃bʰrúHs (“brow”) (compare Middle Irish brúad, Tocharian B pärwāne (“eyebrows”), Lithuanian bruvìs, Serbo-Croatian obrva, Russian бровь (brovʹ), Ancient Greek ὀφρύς (ophrús), Sanskrit भ्रू (bhrū)), Persian ابرو‎ (abrū, “eyebrow”)).

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• IPA^(key): /bɹaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ

brow (plural brows)

1. The ridge over the eyes; the eyebrow.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III Scene v:

     'Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, / Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream / That can entame my spirits to your worship.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Churchill

     And his arched brow, pulled o'er his eyes, / With solemn proof proclaims him wise.

2. The first tine of an antler's beam.
3. The forehead.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, Act II Scene iii:

     Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,

     And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep,

     That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow

     Like bubbles in a late-disturb'd stream, […]

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     Mr. Banks’ panama hat was in one hand, while the other drew a handkerchief across his perspiring brow.

4. The projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill.

   the brow of a precipice

5. (mining) A gallery in a coal mine running across the face of the coal.
6. (figuratively) Aspect; appearance.
7. (nautical) The gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
8. (nautical) The hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp.

• forehead

• beetle-browed
• eyebrow

brow (third-person singular simple present brows, present participle browing, simple past and past participle browed)

1. To bound or limit; to be at, or form, the edge of.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts / That brow this bottom glade.

brow

1. Alternative form of browe

From Old Norse brauð, from Proto-Germanic *braudą. Compare Shetlandic brau.

brow

1. (Orkney) bread