Definitions

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

  • noun The superciliary ridge over the eyes.
  • noun The eyebrow.
  • noun The forehead.
  • noun A facial expression; countenance.
  • noun The projecting upper edge of a steep place.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The prominent ridge over the eye, forming an arch above the orbit.
  • noun The arch of hair over the eye; the eyebrow.
  • noun The forehead.
  • noun The general expression of the countenance.
  • noun In entomology, that part of an insect's head which lies between the clypeus and the vertex, generally just above the antennæ.
  • noun The edge of a steep place; the upper portion of a slope: as, “the brow of the hill,” Luke iv. 29.
  • noun In England, a fringe of coppice adjoining the hedge of a field.
  • noun In coal-mining, an underground roadway leading to a working-place, driven either to the rise or to the dip.
  • noun Nautical, an old name for an inclined plane of planks from the shore or the ground to a ship, to facilitate entry and exit. In this sense also spelled brough.
  • noun In a saw-mill, an incline up which logs are drawn to be sawed.
  • noun View; opinion: in the phrases an ill brow, an unfavorable opinion; nae brow, no good opinion.
  • To form a brow or elevated border to.

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

  • noun The prominent ridge over the eye, with the hair that covers it, forming an arch above the orbit.
  • noun The hair that covers the brow (ridge over the eyes); the eyebrow.
  • noun The forehead.
  • noun The general air of the countenance.
  • noun The edge or projecting upper part of a steep place.
  • noun to frown; to scowl.
  • transitive verb rare To bound to limit; to be at, or form, the edge of.

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

  • noun The ridge over the eyes; the eyebrow (Wikipedia).
  • noun The first tine of an antler's beam.
  • noun The forehead (Wikipedia).
  • noun The projecting upper edge of a steep place such as a hill.
  • noun nautical The gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.
  • noun nautical The hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp.
  • verb To bound or limit; to be at, or form, the edge of.

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

  • noun the part of the face above the eyes
  • noun the arch of hair above each eye
  • noun the peak of a hill

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old English brū; see bhrū- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English browe, from Old English brū, from Proto-Germanic *brūwō, from Proto-Indo-European *bhreu 'brow', *h₃bʰrúHs (cf. Middle Irish brúad, Tocharian B pärwāne ‘eyebrows’, Lithuanian bruvìs, Ancient Greek ὀφρύς (ophrus), Sanskrit भ्रू (bhrū)).

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Examples

Comments

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  • "n. In coal-mining, an underground roadway leading to a working-place, driven either to the rise or to the dip.

    n. Nautical, an old name for an inclined plane of planks from the shore or the ground to a ship, to facilitate entry and exit. In this sense also spelled brough."

    --CD&C

    April 16, 2012

  • high, low and middle brow - a quick, nifty journey, Ruzuzu.

    not to mention & to mention ill brow and nae brow in CD&C

    over the edge perhaps?

    April 17, 2012