BREW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does brew mean? 

• BREW (noun)
  The noun BREW has 1 sense:

1. drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling

  Familiarity information: BREW used as a noun is very rare.

• BREW (verb)
  The verb BREW has 2 senses:

1. prepare by brewing

2. sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor

  Familiarity information: BREW used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BREW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

brew; brewage

Hypernyms ("brew" is a kind of...):

alcohol; alcoholic beverage; alcoholic drink; inebriant; intoxicant (a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "brew"):

beer (a general name for alcoholic beverages made by fermenting a cereal (or mixture of cereals) flavored with hops)

kvass (fermented beverage resembling beer but made from rye or barley)

mead (made of fermented honey and water)

cassiri (a drink resembling beer; made from fermented cassava juice)

spruce beer (a brew made by fermenting molasses and other sugars with the sap of spruce trees (sometimes with malt))

Derivation:

brew (sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor)

brew (prepare by brewing)

• BREW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they brew    ... he / she / it brews   
Past simple: brewed   
Past participle: brewed   
-ing form: brewing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prepare by brewing

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

people have been brewing beer for thousands of years

Hypernyms (to "brew" is one way to...):

create from raw material; create from raw stuff (make from scratch)

"Brew" entails doing...:

ferment; sour; turn; work (go sour or spoil)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

brew; brewage (drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling)

brewer (the owner or manager of a brewery)

brewer (someone who brews beer or ale from malt and hops and water)

brewery (a plant where beer is brewed by fermentation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the tea is brewing

Hypernyms (to "brew" is one way to...):

imbue; soak (fill, soak, or imbue totally)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

brew (drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling)

 Context examples 

But it's been a-brewing and swallow it you must.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When a man can brew a dish of chocolate, or tie a cravat, as Ambrose does, he may claim consideration.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The team also exposed the laboratory brew to a high dose of ultraviolet radiation - similar to what a hot Jupiter would experience orbiting so close to its parent star.

(Cooking up Alien Atmospheres on Earth, NASA)

As you have brewed, so shall you drink, my boy.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Holmes had been seated for some hours in silence with his long, thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a particularly malodorous product.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I knew there was mischief brewing.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The dogs had quarrels among themselves, but these were forgotten when trouble was brewing with White Fang.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

An alcoholic beverage usually made from malted cereal grain (as barley), flavored with hops, and brewed by slow fermentation.

(Beer, NCI Thesaurus)

How, then, can England come in, especially when we have stirred her up such a devil’s brew of Irish civil war, window-breaking Furies, and God knows what to keep her thoughts at home.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)