Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BROWN, v.t.

To make brown or dusky. A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves, / Browns the dim void, and darkens deep the groves. – Barlow.

BROWN'-BILL, n. [brown and bill.]

A weapon formerly used by the English foot soldiers. The origin of the name is not stated; but from it brown musket is said to have derived its appellation. – Johnson.

BROWN'IE, n.

In Scotland, an imaginary spirit that haunts houses.

BROWN'ISH, a.

Somewhat brown; inclined to brown. – Kirwan.

BROWN'ISM, n.

The doctrines or religious creed of the Brownists, who maintain that any body of professing Christians united under one pastor, or communing together, constitutes a church independent of any other. – Encyc.

BROWN'IST, n.

A follower of Robert Brown, a puritan, or dissenter from the Church of England, who left England with his congregation and settled at Middleburgh in Zealand. He was the head of a party of Independents in Church government. – Encyc.

BROWN'NESS, n.

A brown color. – Sidney.

BROWN'-SPAR, n.

Pearl spar or sidero-calcite. – Ure.

BROWN'-STUD-Y, n. [brown and study.]

Gloomy study; dull thoughtfulness; meditation directed to no certain object. – Norris.

BROWN'-WORT, n. [brown and wort.]

1. A plant; Prunella.
2. A species of Scrophularia, the vernalis, or yellow figwort, with brown stalks. – Encyc. Fam. of Plants.

BROWN'Y, a.

Brown. [Not used.] – Shak.

BROW'-POST, n. [brow and post.]

Among builders, a beam that goes across a building. – Encyc.

BROWSE, n. [brows.]

The tender branches or twigs of trees and shrubs, fit for the food of cattle and other animals.

BROWSE, v.i. [s as z.]

To feed on the tender branches or shoots of shrubs and trees, as cattle, sheep and goats. – Arbuthnot. Shak.

BROWSE, v.t. [s as z. Gr. βρωσκω, to eat or browse, βρωσις, food, but probably these words may be from sprouts; Arm. brouz, brouez, or broust, sprouts, buds; Fr. brout, brouter; Arm. brousta or brouza, to browse. It is allied to brush; W. brwys, luxuriant growth; rhwys, vigor, luxuriance, wantonness.]

To eat the ends of branches of trees and shrubs or the young shoots, as cattle, or deer. – Spenser. Shak.

BROW'SICK, a. [brow and sick.]

Dejected; hanging the head. [Not used.] – Suckling.

BROWS'ING, ppr. [s as z.]

Feeding on branches, shrubs, or shoots of trees.

BRU'CI-NA, n.

A vegetable alkaloid extracted from the bark of the false angustura, or Strychnos Pseudo-China.

BRU'CITE, n.

A mineral, the chondrodite of Berzelius, which sometimes occurs in grains or imperfect crystals, sometimes in four-sided prisms with rhombic bases. It is so named from the late Dr. Bruce, a distinguished mineralogist of New York. – Cleaveland.

BRU'IN, n.

A bear. – Pope's Dunciad.

BRUISE, n.

A contusion; a hurt upon the flesh of animals, upon plants or other bodies, with a blunt or heavy instrument.

BRUISE, v.t. [s as z. Sax. brysan, to bruise; Fr. briser, to break or bruise; froisser, to bruise; Arm. brousta.]

To crush by beating or pounding with an instrument not edged or pointed. When applied to animal flesh or to vegetables, a bruise is a contusion that impairs the natural solidity and texture of the part, but often without breaking the skin. When applied to minerals and similar substances, it signifies to break them, and often to reduce them to a coarse powder.

BRUIS'ED, pp.

Crushed; hurt or broken by a blunt or heavy instrument.

BRUIS'ER, n.

1. A concave tool for grinding the specula of telescopes. – Chambers.
2. In vulgar language, a boxer.

BRUISE'WORT, n. [bruise and wort.]

A plant; comfrey. – Johnson.