BROWN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Brown mean? 

• BROWN (noun)
  The noun BROWN has 4 senses:

1. an orange of low brightness and saturation

2. Scottish botanist who first observed the movement of small particles in fluids now known a Brownian motion (1773-1858)

3. abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1859)

4. a university in Rhode Island

  Familiarity information: BROWN used as a noun is uncommon.

• BROWN (adjective)
  The adjective BROWN has 2 senses:

1. of a color similar to that of wood or earth

2. (of skin) deeply suntanned

  Familiarity information: BROWN used as an adjective is rare.

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

1. fry in a pan until it changes color

2. make brown in color

  Familiarity information: BROWN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BROWN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An orange of low brightness and saturation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

brown; brownness

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

chromatic color; chromatic colour; spectral color; spectral colour (a color that has hue)

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

Vandyke brown (a moderate brown color)

chestnut (the brown color of chestnuts)

burnt umber; chocolate; coffee; deep brown; umber (a medium brown to dark-brown color)

hazel (a shade of brown that is yellowish or reddish; it is a greenish shade of brown when used to describe the color of someone's eyes)

light brown (a brown that is light but unsaturated)

mocha (a dark brown color)

burnt sienna; mahogany; reddish brown; sepia; Venetian red (a shade of brown with a tinge of red)

buff; caramel; caramel brown; raw sienna; yellowish brown (a medium to dark tan color)

puce (a color varying from dark purplish brown to dark red)

olive brown (a shade of brown tinged with green)

taupe (a greyish brown)

Derivation:

brown (fry in a pan until it changes color)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Scottish botanist who first observed the movement of small particles in fluids now known a Brownian motion (1773-1858)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Brown; Robert Brown

Instance hypernyms:

botanist; phytologist; plant scientist (a biologist specializing in the study of plants)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1859)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Brown; John Brown

Instance hypernyms:

abolitionist; emancipationist (a reformer who favors abolishing slavery)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A university in Rhode Island

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

Brown; Brown University

Instance hypernyms:

university (establishment where a seat of higher learning is housed, including administrative and living quarters as well as facilities for research and teaching)

Holonyms ("Brown" is a part of...):

Little Rhody; Ocean State; R.I.; Rhode Island; RI (a state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies; the smallest state)

Holonyms ("Brown" is a member of...):

Ivy League (a league of universities and colleges in the northeastern United States that have a reputation for scholastic achievement and social prestige)

• BROWN (adjective)

Comparative: browner   
Superlative: brownest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of a color similar to that of wood or earth

Synonyms:

brown; brownish; chocolate-brown; dark-brown

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

Derivation:

brownness (an orange of low brightness and saturation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(of skin) deeply suntanned

Synonyms:

brown; browned

Similar:

brunet; brunette (marked by dark or relatively dark pigmentation of hair or skin or eyes)

• BROWN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they brown    ... he / she / it browns   
Past simple: browned   
Past participle: browned   
-ing form: browning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fry in a pan until it changes color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

brown the meat in the pan

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

cook (transform and make suitable for consumption by heating)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The chefs brown the vegetables

Derivation:

brown (an orange of low brightness and saturation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make brown in color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

brown; embrown

Context example:

the draught browned the leaves on the trees in the yard

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

color; color in; colorise; colorize; colour; colour in; colourise; colourize (add color to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Silas Brown, the trainer, is known to have had large bets upon the event, and he was no friend to poor Straker.

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

High-fat feeding and high plasma free fatty acids reduce thermogenesis in brown fat due to the greater requirement of PPAR-gamma for Src-1 than Tif2 for activation in these cells.

(Obesity and Thermogenesis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which had come from the walls of her hiding-place.

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

A brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the left-hand side of the window.

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

The brown sunburn of his face surprised him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She is grown so brown and coarse!

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Examples of oxidation are rust and the brown color on a cut apple.

(Oxidation, NCI Dictionary)

He was brown, deep brown, red-brown, an orgy of browns.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Grossly, it has a dark brown appearance and is characterized by the presence of neoplastic cells containing abundant intracytoplasmic lipofuscin.

(Pigmented Adrenal Cortex Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Her lips were blue with cold, and she was hollow-eyed—but oh, how bravely her brown eyes looked at me!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)