brownstudy

Gammerstang commented on the word brownstudy

(noun) - (1) Gloomy meditation.

--Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1755

(2) Absence of mind; apparent thought, but real vacuity. The corresponding French expression explains it - sombre réverie. Sombre and brun both mean sad, melancholy, gloomy, dull.

--Ebenezer Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898

(3) Serious reverie; thoughtful absent-mindedness.

--Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828

(4) Very common, even in educated society, but hardly admissible in writing. It is derived . . . from "brow study" and the Old German braun, or aug-braun, an eye-brow.

--John Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887

January 14, 2018