1. To make brown or dusky.
A trembling twilight o'er welkin moves,
Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves.
Barlow.
2. To make brown by scorching slightly; as, to brown meat or flour.
3. To give a bright brown color to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coat of oxide on their surface.
Ure.
Brown
(Brown), v. i. To become brown.
Brownback
(Brown"back`) n. (Zoöl.) The dowitcher or red-breasted snipe. See Dowitcher.
Brown bill
(Brown" bill`) [Brown + bill cutting tool.] A bill or halberd of the 16th and 17th centuries. See
4th Bill.
Many time, but for a sallet, my brainpan had been cleft with a brown bill.
Shak.
The black, or as it is sometimes called, the brown bill, was a kind of halberd, the cutting part hooked
like a woodman's bill, from the back of which projected a spike, and another from the head. Grose.
Brownian
(Brown"i*an) a. Pertaining to Dr. Robert Brown, who first demonstrated (about 1827) the
commonness of the motion described below.
Brownian movement, the peculiar, rapid, vibratory movement exhibited by the microscopic particles of
substances when suspended in water or other fluids.
Brownie
(Brown"ie) n. [So called from its supposed tawny or swarthy color.] An imaginary good-
natured spirit, who was supposed often to perform important services around the house by night, such
as thrashing, churning, sweeping. [Scot.]
Browning
(Brown"ing), n.
1. The act or operation of giving a brown color, as to gun barrels, etc.
2. (Masonry) A smooth coat of brown mortar, usually the second coat, and the preparation for the
finishing coat of plaster.
Brownish
(Brown"ish), a. Somewhat brown.
Brownism
(Brown"ism) n. (Eccl. Hist.) The views or teachings of Robert Brown of the Brownists. Milton.
Brownism
(Brown"ism), n. (Med.) The doctrines of the Brunonian system of medicine. See Brunonian.
Brownist
(Brown"ist), n. (Eccl. Hist.) A follower of Robert Brown, of England, in the 16th century,
who taught that every church is complete and independent in itself when organized, and consists of
members meeting in one place, having full power to elect and depose its officers.
Brownist
(Brown"ist), n. (Med.) One who advocates the Brunonian system of medicine.
Brownness
(Brown"ness), n. The quality or state of being brown.
Now like I brown (O lovely brown thy hair);
Only in brownness beauty dwelleth there.
Drayton.
Brownstone
(Brown"stone`) n. A dark variety of sandstone, much used for building purposes.
