brow: [OE] In Old English, brow meant ‘eyelash’, but there seems little doubt, from related words in other languages (such as Sanskrit bhrūs and Greek ophrus), that the original underlying sense of the word is ‘eyebrow’, and this resurfaced, or was recreated, in English in the 11th century. Its ultimate source is Indo- European *bhrūs, which passed via Germanic brūs into Old English as brū.
early 14c., browes, brues "brow, forehead, eyebrow," earlier brouwes (c. 1300), bruwen (c. 1200), from Old English bru, probably originally "eyebrow," but extended to "eyelash," then "eyelid" by association of the hair of the eyebrow with the hair of the eyelid, the eyebrows then becoming Old English oferbrua "overbrows" (early Middle English uvere breyhes or briges aboue þe eiges).
The general word for "eyebrow" in Middle English was brew, breowen (c. 1200), from Old English bræw (West Saxon), *brew (Anglian), from Proto-Germanic *bræwi- "blinker, twinkler" (cognates: Old Frisian bre, Old Saxon brawa, Middle Dutch brauwe "eyelid," Old High German brawa"eyebrow," Old Norse bra "eyebrow," Gothic brahw "twinkle, blink," in phrase in brahwa augins "in the twinkling of an eye").
Old English bru is from Proto-Germanic *brus- "eyebrow" (source also of Old Norse brun), from PIE *bhru- "eyebrow" (cognates: Sanskrit bhrus "eyebrow," Greek ophrys, Old Church Slavonic bruvi, Lithuanian bruvis "brow," Old Irish bru "edge"). The -n- in the Old Norse (brun) and German (braune) forms of the word are from a genitive plural inflection.
Words for "eyelid," "eyelash," and "eyebrow" changed about maddeningly in Old and Middle English (and in all the West Germanic languages). By 1530s, brow had been given an extended sense of "forehead," especially with reference to movements and expressions that showed emotion or attitude.
双语例句
1. His hair fell over his brow instead of being brushed straight back.
他的头发没有整齐地往后梳，而是搭在前额。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The Inspector took out a handker-chief and mopped his brow.
检察员掏出手帕，擦了擦眉头。
来自柯林斯例句
3. In a moment he was seated, diagonally opposite her, brow furrowed.
