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Synonyms for brow

Grammar : Noun
Spell : brou
Phonetic Transcription : braʊ


Définition of brow

Origin :
  • early 14c., browes, brues "brow, forehead, eyebrow," earlier brouwes (c.1300), bruwen (c.1200), from Old English bru, probably originally "eyebrow," but extended to "eyelash," then "eyelid" by association of the hair of the eyebrow with the hair of the eyelid, the eyebrows then becoming Old English oferbrua "overbrows" (early Middle English uvere breyhes or briges aboue þe eiges).
  • The general word for "eyebrow" in Middle English was brew, breowen (c.1200), from Old English bræw (West Saxon), *brew (Anglian), from Proto-Germanic *bræwi- "blinker, twinkler" (cf. Old Frisian bre, Old Saxon brawa, Middle Dutch brauwe "eyelid," Old High German brawa"eyebrow," Old Norse bra "eyebrow," Gothic brahw "twinkle, blink," in phrase in brahwa augins "in the twinkling of an eye").
  • Old English bru is from Proto-Germanic *brus- "eyebrow" (cf. Old Norse brun), from PIE *bhru- "eyebrow" (cf. Sanskrit bhrus "eyebrow," Greek ophrys, Old Church Slavonic bruvi, Lithuanian bruvis "brow," Old Irish bru "edge"). The -n- in the Old Norse (brun) and German (braune) forms of the word are from a genitive plural inflection.
  • Words for "eyelid," "eyelash," and "eyebrow" changed about maddeningly in Old and Middle English (and in all the West Germanic languages). By 1530s, brow had been given an extended sense of "forehead," especially with reference to movements and expressions that showed emotion or attitude.
  • noun forehead
Example sentences :
  • Pericles seated himself near them, with deep sadness on his brow.
  • Extract from : « Philothea » by Lydia Maria Child
  • But his head was whirling round, the blood was gushing from his brow, his temple, his mouth.
  • Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Her brow cleared at this, and she laughed with satisfaction.
  • Extract from : « The Bacillus of Beauty » by Harriet Stark
  • His face was livid, and great beads of perspiration stood on his brow.
  • Extract from : « In the Midst of Alarms » by Robert Barr
  • He stared in astonishment at Mortimer and Allis, his brow wrinkled in anger.
  • Extract from : « Thoroughbreds » by W. A. Fraser
  • Great beads of sweat stood on his brow and he wiped them away with his sleeve.
  • Extract from : « Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates » by Howard Pyle
  • The perspiration of the literary labour dropped from his brow.
  • Extract from : « The Secret Agent » by Joseph Conrad
  • The boy started, and a cloud passed over his brow; but he said nothing.
  • Extract from : « Night and Morning, Complete » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • For the first time he felt the breath of Nature, free and unconfined, upon his brow.
  • Extract from : « The Monster Men » by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  • The Englishman seemed to muse, for his brow lowered, and he made no answer.
  • Extract from : « Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Antonyms for brow

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019