brown

 
Pronunciation: /braʊn/

adjective

  • of a colour produced by mixing red, yellow, and blue, as of dark wood or rich soil: an old brown coat she had warm brown eyes
  • dark-skinned or suntanned: his face was brown from the sun
  • South African term for coloured (sense 2 of the adjective).
  • (of bread) made from unsifted or unbleached flour.

noun

  • 1 [mass noun] brown colour or pigment: the brown of his eyes a pair of boots in brown [count noun]: the print is rich with velvety browns
  • brown clothes or material: a woman all in brown
  • 2a brown thing, in particular the brown ball in snooker.
  • 3 [with modifier] a satyrid butterfly, which typically has brown wings with small eyespots.
    • Subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae: many genera and species

verb

  • make or become brown, typically by cooking: [with object]: a skillet in which food has been browned [no object]: grill the pizza until the cheese has browned

Phrases

(as) brown as a berry

(of a person) very suntanned: she’d lost her pale, city complexion and become as brown as a berry

in a brown study

see study.

Phrasal Verbs

be browned off

British informal be irritated or depressed: they’re getting browned off with the overtime

Derivatives

brownish

adjective

brownness

Pronunciation: /ˈbrəʊnnɪs/
noun

browny

adjective

Origin:

Old English brūn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bruin and German braun