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 ]

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

adj. of a color similar to that of wood or earth.
Syn. -- brown, brownish. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ Pref. em- (L. in) + brown. ] To give a brown color to; to imbrown. [ 1913 Webster ]

Summer suns embrown the laboring swain. Fenton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of a clear tint of brown, resembling brown human hair. It is composed of equal proportions of red and green. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. im- in + brown. Cf. Embrown. ] To make brown; to obscure; to darken; to tan; as, features imbrowned by exposure. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mountain mass by scorching skies imbrowned. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Brown as a nut long kept and dried. “The spicy nutbrown ale.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of a rich dark brown color, like the fur of the fur seal after it is dyed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of a color between white and brown. Pegge. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Having a color intermediate between yellow and brown.
Syn. -- amber, brownish-yellow. [ WordNet 1.5 ]