Idioms for brown

    browned off, Slang. angry; fed up.
    do it up brown, Informal. to do thoroughly: When they entertain, they really do it up brown.

Origin of brown

before 1000; Middle English; Old English brūn; cognate with Dutch bruin, German braun, Old Norse brūnn; akin to Lithuanian brúnas brown

usage note for brown

Brown as a noun and adjective to describe people with a brownish skin color is often perceived as insulting. Historically it has been used by anthropologists and scientists as a racial and ethnic classification to describe various dark-skinned populations, as in North Africa, the Middle East, Malaysia, and South Asia. It is also a term associated with colonialism. In recent times, brown has been used of Hispanics and South Asians in North America, many of whom self-identify as brown.

OTHER WORDS FROM brown

Words nearby brown

browband, browbeat, browder, browed, browlift, brown, brown alga, brown algae, brown bag, brown bagger, brown bagging

Words related to browned off

enraged, frenzied, raging, vehement, livid, violent, frantic, desperate, incensed, fierce, frenetic, bent, boiling, crazed, demented, infuriated, insane, irate, irrational, maniac

British Dictionary definitions for browned off (1 of 2)

brown
/ (braʊn) /

noun

adjective

verb

to make (esp food as a result of cooking) brown or (esp of food) to become brown

Derived forms of brown

brownish or browny, adjective brownness, noun

Word Origin for brown

Old English brūn; related to Old Norse brūnn, Old High German brūn, Greek phrunos toad, Sanskrit babhru reddish-brown

British Dictionary definitions for browned off (2 of 2)

Brown
/ (braʊn) /

noun

Medical definitions for browned off

Brown
[ broun ]
Michael Born 1941

American geneticist. He shared a 1985 Nobel Prize for discoveries related to cholesterol metabolism.

Idioms and Phrases with browned off (1 of 2)

browned off

Very angry, as in When she locked me out I was really browned off. This expression originated as Royal Air Force slang for “disgusted” and “depressed” in the late 1930s and had crossed the Atlantic by World War II. It gradually came to be used more widely as a slangy synonym for “infuriated.” One theory for its origin, mentioned by Eric Partridge in his slang dictionary, is that it alludes to brass buttons on a uniform turning brown from lack of polishing. Partridge noted, however, that the “predominant Army opinion” was that the word had the same literal meaning as buggered.

Idioms and Phrases with browned off (2 of 2)

brown