# brow
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English browe, from Old English brū, from Proto-West Germanic *brāwu, 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 (abru, “eyebrow”), Khowar بروُ (bruú).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /bɹaʊ/
** Audio (General American):(file)
** Rhymes: -aʊ
* (Indic) IPA: /bɾoː/
** Homophone: bro
** Rhymes: -əʊ

### Noun

brow (plural brows)
* The bony ridge over the eyes, upon which the eyebrows are located.
* The eyebrow.
** c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [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.
** c. 1763, Charles Churchill, The Ghost:And his arch’d brow, pulled o’er his eyes, / With solemn proof proclaims him wise.
* The forehead.
** c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [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.
* (figurative) Aspect; appearance; facial expression.
** 1919, Katherine Mansfield, “Friendship”, in J. Middleton Murry, editor, The Scrapbook of Katherine Mansfield, published 1940:Take it away; I'm frightened! / But she, with placid brow, / Cries: "This is our Kitty-witty! / Why don't you love her now?"
* The projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill.
    the brow of a precipice
* The first tine of an antler's beam.
* (mining) A gallery in a coal mine running across the face of the coal.
* (nautical) The gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
* (nautical) The hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp.

#### Synonyms

* forehead

#### Derived terms

* beetle brow
* beetle-browed
* Berry Brow
* bibrow
* brow-antlered deer
* browband
* browbeat
* brow-beat
* browbeaten
* browbone
* browbound
* browful
* browless
* [[brow-level browsing: browsing room#English|brow-level browsing: browsing room]]
* browlift
* browline
* browman
* browplasty
* brow ridge
* browspot
* Dobb Brow
* eye brow
* eyebrow
* highbrow
* low-brow
* lowbrow
* medium-brow
* midbrow
* middlebrow
* monobrow
* no-brow
* overbrow
* Scouse brow
* sweat of one's brow
* sweat of the brow
* underbrow
* unibrow
* Weatherby brow

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

brow (third-person singular simple present brows, present participle browing, simple past and past participle browed)
* To bound or limit; to be at, or form, the edge of.
** 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 19, lines 531–532:Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts / That brow this bottom glade.

## Middle English
### Noun

brow
* Alternative form of browe

## Norn
### Etymology

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

### Noun

brow
* (Orkney) bread

## Plautdietsch
### Adjective

brow
* brave, audacious, daring, courageous, dauntless, intrepid