adv. [ OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dūne off the hill. See Down. ] From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [ Archaic ] “Thrice did she sink adown.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. Down. [ Archaic & Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Her hair adown her shoulders loosely lay displayed. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the time of Allhallows. [ Obs. ] “Allhallown summer.” Shak. (i. e., late summer; “Indian Summer”). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A receding or giving up; a complete surrender. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. 1. devoting full strength and concentrated attention to.
Syn. -- determined. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A nightgown. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. of Bestrew. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. more familiar or renowned than the other of two. Antonym of lesser-known. the better known book of the two
Syn. -- better known(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

p. p. & a. 1. Swollen; inflated; distended; puffed up, as cattle when gorged with green food which develops gas. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Stale; worthless. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Out of breath; tired; exhausted. “Their horses much blown.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Covered with the eggs and larvæ of flies; fly blown. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. & a. Opened; in blossom or having blossomed, as a flower. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of a class of paupers or pensioners, or licensed beggars, in Scotland, to whim annually on the king's birthday were distributed certain alms, including a blue gown; a beadsman. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. expressing the essence; condensed; summarized. the final boiled-down crux of the matter
Syn. -- boiled down. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ See Boun. ] To make ready; to prepare; to dress. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

We will all bowne ourselves for the banquet. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (a) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take part in it break down. (b) Any rude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with. New Eng. Tales. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Barbados. Population (2000) = 6, 700. [ PJC ]

a. [ Compar. Browner superl. Brownest. ] [ OE. brun, broun, AS. br&unr_;n; akin to D. bruin, OHG. br&unr_;n, Icel. br&unr_;nn, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cheeks brown as the oak leaves. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 porter or malt liquor. --
Brown study, a state of mental abstraction or serious reverie. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Browned p. pr. & vb. n. Browning. ] 1. To make brown or dusky. [ 1913 Webster ]

A trembling twilight o'er welkin moves,
Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves. Barlow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make brown by scorching slightly; as, to brown meat or flour. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give a bright brown color to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coat of oxide on their surface. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The dowitcher or red-breasted snipe. See Dowitcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Brown + bill cutting tool. ] A bill or halberd of the 16th and 17th centuries. See 4th Bill. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many time, but for a sallet, my brainpan had been cleft with a brown bill. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The black, or as it is sometimes called, the brown bill, was a kind of halberd, the cutting part hooked like a woodman's bill, from the back of which projected a spike, and another from the head. Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. having a tan color from exposure to the sun; -- of skin color.
Syn. -- suntanned, tanned. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Pertaining to Dr. Robert Brown, who first demonstrated (about 1827) the commonness of the motion described below. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brownian motion,
Brownian movement, the peculiar, rapid, vibratory movement exhibited by the microscopic particles of substances when suspended in water or other fluids. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ So called from its supposed tawny or swarthy color. ] An imaginary good-natured spirit, who was supposed often to perform important services around the house by night, such as thrashing, churning, sweeping. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or operation of giving a brown color, as to gun barrels, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Masonry) A smooth coat of brown mortar, usually the second coat, and the preparation for the finishing coat of plaster. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Somewhat brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) The doctrines of the Brunonian system of medicine. See Brunonian. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) The views or teachings of Robert Brown of the Brownists. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) A follower of Robert Brown, of England, in the 16th century, who taught that every church is complete and independent in itself when organized, and consists of members meeting in one place, having full power to elect and depose its officers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) One who advocates the Brunonian system of medicine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now like I brown (O lovely brown thy hair);
Only in brownness beauty dwelleth there. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft).
Syn. -- blackout, dimout. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a partial reduction in the amount of electric power available to customers in a region, such as by reduction of voltage or selective cutoff of certain customers; -- it occurs for example in summer when the demand for electricity for air-conditioning exceeds the supply, or when power to certain customers is cut off by a severe storm. It is contrasted with blackout, which is the total loss of electrical power in a region. [ PJC ]

. The Malay or Polynesian race; -- loosely so called. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. A dark variety of sandstone, much used for building purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a building, especially a dwelling, faced with brownstone{ 1 }. [ PJC ]

(Zool.) A common American singing bird (Harporhynchus rufus), allied to the mocking bird; -- also called brown thrasher. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A species of figwort or Scrophularia (Scrophularia vernalis), and other species of the same genus, mostly perennials with inconspicuous coarse flowers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Brown or, somewhat brown. “Browny locks.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. conservatively formal and businesslike in dress and manner.
Syn. -- button-down, conservative. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a colorful character in the buttoned-down, dull-gray world of business. Newsweek

n. having a lack of experience of life.
Syn. -- jejuneness. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } A brown pigment of varying permanence, consisting of impure lignite. It was found originally near Cassel (now Kassel), Germany. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. sudden restriction on an activity. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a retraction of a previously held position.
Syn. -- withdrawal, backdown. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Grand climacteric or
Great climacteric, the sixty-third year of human life. [ 1913 Webster ]

I should hardly yield my rigid fibers to be regenerated by them; nor begin, in my grand climacteric, to squall in their new accents, or to stammer, in my second cradle, the elemental sounds of their barbarous metaphysics. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. termination of operations; a shutdown.
Syn. -- closure, closing, shutdown. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cf. Icel. klunni a clumsy, boorish fellow, North Fries. klönne clown, dial. Sw. klunn log, Dan. klunt log, block, and E. clump, n. ] 1. A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an ill-bred person; a boor. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl. [ 1913 Webster ]

The clown, the child of nature, without guile. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o'the sere. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To act as a clown; -- with it. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Beshrew me, he clowns it properly indeed. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Behavior or manners of a clown; clownery. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Clownishness. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. acting like a clown or buffoon.
Syn. -- buffoonery, frivolity, harlequinade, prank. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a comic incident or series of incidents.
Syn. -- drollery, comedy, funniness. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of or resembling a clown, or characteristic of a clown; ungainly; awkward. “Clownish hands.” Spenser. “Clownish mimic.” Prior.

-- Clown"ish*ly, adv.

Syn. -- Coarse; rough; clumsy; awkward; ungainly; rude; uncivil; ill-bred; boorish; rustic; untutored. [1913 Webster]

n. The manners of a clown; coarseness or rudeness of behavior. [ 1913 Webster ]

That plainness which the alamode people call clownishness. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]