Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having thick, prominent or projecting eyebrows.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having shaggy, bushy, prominent, or overhanging eyebrows; hence, often, sullen; scowling.
  • Figuratively, having an overhanging or projecting top.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • Having prominent, overhanging brows; hence, lowering or sullen.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective making an unfriendly or sullen face

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective sullen or unfriendly in appearance

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bitel-brouwed , having grim brows, sullen, perhaps from bitil, betil, bug, beetle (from the resemblance of a pair of thick eyebrows to the tufted antennae of a cockchafer); see beetle, or from bitel, sharp (probably from Old English *bitol, biting, from Old English bite, bite); see bit + brouwed (from brow, brow; see brow).]

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Examples

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  • I can't say that I've paid all that much attention to a beetle's brows.

    May 23, 2022