Brown (?), a. [Compar. Browner (?); superl. Brownest.] [OE. brun, broun, AS. brn; akin to D. bruin, OHG. brn, Icel. brnn, Sw. brun, Dan. bruun, G. braun, Lith. brunas, Skr. babhru. 93, 253. Cf. Bruin, Beaver, Burnish, Brunette.]
Of a dark color, of various shades between black and red or yellow.
Cheeks brown as the oak leaves.
Longfellow.
Brown Bess, the old regulation flintlock smoothbore musket, with bronzed barrel, formerly used in the British army. -- Brown bread (a) Dark colored bread; esp. a kind made of unbolted wheat flour, sometimes called in the United States Graham bread. "He would mouth with a beggar though she smelt brown bread and garlic." Shak. (b) Dark colored bread made of rye meal and Indian meal, or of wheat and rye or Indian; rye and Indian bread. [U.S.] -- Brown coal, wood coal. See Lignite. -- Brown hematite or Brown iron ore Min., the hydrous iron oxide, limonite, which has a brown streak. See Limonite. -- Brown holland. See under Holland. -- Brown paper, dark colored paper, esp. coarse wrapping paper, made of unbleached materials. -- Brown spar Min., a ferruginous variety of dolomite, in part identical with ankerite. -- Brown stone. See Brownstone. -- Brown stout, a strong kind of proter or malt liquor. -- Brown study, a state of mental abstraction or serious reverie.
W. Irving.
© Webster 1913.
Brown, n.
A dark color inclining to red or yellow, resulting from the mixture of red and black, or of red, black, and yellow; a tawny, dusky hue.
© Webster 1913.
Brown, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Browned (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Browning.]
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.
© Webster 1913.
Brown, v. i.
To become brown.
© Webster 1913.