brown (broun)

[ II. trans . To make brown or dusky. A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves, Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves. J. Barlow , Columbiad, iii. 618. Specifically - ( a ) To produce a brown color in by exposure to heat, as of meat, bread, etc., to that of a fire in roasting or toasting, or of the skin to that of the sun. (b) To give a brown luster to (articles of iron, as gun-barrels, etc.), by applying certain preparations. brown back (broun'bak), n. 1. A name of the red-breasted snipe, Macrorhamphus grise us.— 2. A name of the great marbled godwit, Limo sa fedoa. brown-be (broun'bes), n. [Said to be formed in punning imitation ( Be for Bill ) of brown bill, the old weapon of the English infantry.] A name given to the regulation bronzed flintlock musket formerly used in the British army. brown bill (broun'bil), n. A kind of halbert formerly used by the English foot-soldiers. See bill2, 2. The black, or as it was sometimes called, the brown - bill , was a kind of halbert, the cutting part hooked like a woodman's bill, from the back of which projected a spike, and another from the head. Grose. IMG:content-2647.png:[graphic] IMG:content-2648.png:[blocks in formation] Brown i an Brunonian.-Brown i an movement, a rapid oscillatory motion often observed in very minute particles suspended in water or other liquid, as when carmine or gamboge is rubbed up in water, and first described by Robert Brown (1757-1831), a Scotch botanist and agriculturist. It is a purely physical phenomenon, not vital, and is probably explained by the fact that the particles are in very delicate equilibrium, and hence extremely sensitive to the slightest change of temperature. Also and originally brownie (brou'ni), n. [Sc., dim. of brown: so called from their supposed color.] In Scotland, a spirit supposed to haunt houses, particularly farm-houses. The brownie was believed to be very useful to the family, particularly if treated well by them, and to the servants, for whom while they slept he was wont to do many pieces of drudgery. In appearance the brownie was said to be meager, shaggy, and wild. It would be easy to trace the belief in brownies . the lar, or hearth spirit of the ancients. to 698 The whiles their gotes upon the brouzes fedd. Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 45. Up hither drive thy goats, and play by me: This hill has browse for them, and shade for thee. Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Meta morph., i. 943. The deer leave the mountains and come to the plains below to feed on the browse of the birch. Sportsman's Gazetteer , p. 63.