brew

See also: Brew

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *breuwan, from Proto-Germanic *brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of burn.

Cognate with Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well”), Latin fervēre (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurván, “motion of water”). It may be related to English barley

Pronunciation

• enPR: bro͞o, IPA^(key): /bɹuː/, /bɹuʊ̯/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Wales, Ottawa Valley, Southern US) IPA^(key): /bɹɪʊ̯/
• Rhymes: -uː

Verb

brew (third-person singular simple present brews, present participle brewing, simple past and past participle brewed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make tea or coffee by mixing tea leaves or coffee beans with hot water.
   • 1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 11, in Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1942, page 113:

     Elderly people sat indoors, in the damp. shabby houses, brewing malt coffee or weak tea and talking without animation […]

2. (transitive) To heat wine, infusing it with spices; to mull.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     Go, brew me a pottle of sack finely.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To make a hot soup by combining ingredients and boiling them in water.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To make beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast.
5. (transitive) To foment or prepare, as by brewing

   Synonyms: contrive, plot, hatch

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 106:

     Hence with thy brew’d inchantments, foul deceiver […]

6. (intransitive) To attend to the business, or go through the processes, of brewing or making beer.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink […]

7. (intransitive, of an unwelcome event) To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming, or gathering.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:

     There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest,

   • 2004 October 29, Marco R. Della Cava, “Vaccine shortage pricks tempers”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A:

     Of course, no one knows what kind of flu season is brewing, the perfect storm of a new strain hitting a largely unvaccinated population or a mercifully mild few months.

   • 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Grant may have considered that only a performance of the very highest quality could keep him in a job - and the way his players started the game gave the 55-year-old shelter from the storm that was brewing.

8. (transitive, obsolete) To boil or seethe; to cook.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 6:

     She had one day to get up very early in the morning to brew, when the other servants said to her: 'You had better mind you don't get up too early, and you mustn't put any fire under the copper before two o'clock.'

Derived terms

• abrew
• as you have brewed, so you must drink
• brewable
• brewage
• brewer
• brewery
• brewhouse
• brew up
• hell-brewed
• homebrewed
• microbrewed
• misbrew
• nanobrew
• nonbrewed
• overbrew
• rebrew
• unbrewed
• underbrew

 

Translations

make tea or coffee

• Bulgarian: варя (bg) (varja), запарвам (zaparvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沏 (zh) (qī), 泡 (zh) (pào), 煮 (zh) (zhǔ), 沖／冲 (zh) (chōng)

• Finnish: keittää (fi)
• French: infuser (fr)
• German: brühen (de), aufbrühen (de)
• Italian: preparare (it)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: ва́ри (vári), сва́ри (svári)
• Old English: brēowan
• Persian: دم کردن (fa) (dam kardan)
• Portuguese: infundir (pt)
• Russian: зава́ривать (ru) impf (zavárivatʹ), завари́ть (ru) pf (zavarítʹ)
• Spanish: preparar (es), elaborar (es), confeccionar (es), cebar (es)
• Thai: ชง (th) (chong)
• Turkish: demlemek (tr) (transitive), demlenmek (tr) (intransitive)
• Yiddish: אויפֿקוכן (oyfkukhn), אויפֿזידן (oyfzidn)

make a hot soup

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 煮 (zh) (zhǔ)

• Finnish: tehdä keittoa
• French: bouillir (fr)
• Italian: bollire (it)
• Macedonian: сва́ри (svári)
• Persian: آب‌پز کردن (fa) (âb-paz kardan)
• Russian: вари́ть (ru) impf (varítʹ), свари́ть (ru) pf (svarítʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

to make beer

• Arabic: خَمَّرَ (ar) (ḵammara)
• Bulgarian: варя (bg) (varja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 釀造／酿造 (zh) (niàngzào), 釀製／酿制 (zh) (niàngzhì)

• Danish: brygge
• Dutch: brouwen (nl)
• Estonian: pruulima
• Finnish: panna olutta
• French: brasser (fr)
• German: brauen (de)
• Japanese: 醸造する (ja) (jōzō suru)
• Maori: toroī
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brygge (no)

• Old English: brēowan
• Russian: вари́ть (ru) impf (varítʹ), свари́ть (ru) pf (svarítʹ)
• Spanish: elaborar (es), confeccionar (es)
• Swedish: brygga (sv)
• Yiddish: ברײַען (brayen)

to contrive; plot

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 圖謀／图谋 (zh) (túmóu), 密謀／密谋 (zh) (mìmóu)

• Finnish: juonitella (fi), hautoa juonia
• French: manigancer (fr), ourdir (fr)
• Russian: плести́ (ru) impf (plestí), сплести́ (ru) pf (splestí)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

to go through the process of brewing beer

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 釀造／酿造 (zh) (niàngzào), 釀製／酿制 (zh) (niàngzhì)

• Finnish: panna olutta
• Maori: toroī
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

to be in a state of preparation

• Bulgarian: назрявам (bg) (nazrjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 在醞釀之中／在酝酿之中 (zài yùnniàng zhī zhōng)

• Finnish: kyteä (fi), olla tekeillä
• German: ^{(please verify)} sich zusammenbrauen (de)
• Russian: назрева́ть (ru) impf (nazrevátʹ), назре́ть (ru) pf (nazrétʹ) (figurative)
• Spanish: hervir (es), fermentar (es), herver

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: destilar
• Czech: vařit (cs)
• Danish: brygge
• Dutch: brouwen (nl)
• French: brasser (fr)
• German: brauen (de)
• Hungarian: főz (hu)
• Korean: 양조하다 (yangjohada)
• Maori: kōpiro
• Norman: brachi
• Polish: warzyć (pl) impf
• Portuguese: fermentar (pt)
• Spanish: destilar (es)
• Swedish: brygga (sv)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: bragu (cy)

Noun

brew (plural brews)

2. The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed; a brewage, such as tea or beer.
   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 529:

     Six great bottles of one of the Hong Kong brews had been brought to wash down the brandy and the fragments of rice and mee and meat-fibres that clung to the back teeth.

   1. (slang) A serving of beer.

      Synonym: brewski

   2. (British, slang) A cup of tea.
      • 2007 March 6, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3:

        Landlady: You're not stoppin' for a brew?
        Gene Hunt: No thanks, love. Better crack on.

Derived terms

• brewfest
• brew-in
• brewmaster
• brewology
• brewpub
• brewsky
• brewster
• broth
• cold brew
• cold brew coffee
• craft brew
• hellbrew
• homebrew
• iron brew
• macrobrew
• megabrew
• microbrew
• on the brew
• witches' brew

 

Translations

something brewed

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 釀製飲料／酿制饮料 (niàngzhì yǐnliào)

• Dutch: brouwsel (nl) n
• Finnish: mallasjuoma (fi), keitos
• French: breuvage (fr) m
• German: Bräu m
• Plautdietsch: Brie m
• Portuguese: infusão (pt) f
• Russian: ва́рево (ru) n (várevo)
• Spanish: destilado (es) m
• Swedish: brygd (sv) c

beer — see beer

cup of tea — see cup of tea

Etymology 2

From Middle English brewe (“eyebrow”), from Old English bru (“eyebrow”). Doublet of brow.

Noun

brew (plural brews)

1. (British, dialect) An overhanging hill or cliff.

Translations

hill — see hill

Anagrams

• BWER

Middle English

Verb

brew

1. Alternative form of brewen

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *bry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /brɛfʲ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /brɛfʲ/

Noun

brew f

1. eyebrow
   • Middle of the 15th century, Rozmyślanie o żywocie Pana Jezusa‎^[2], page 149:

     O brwiach Jezusowych. Brwi miał wielmi czarne a nadobne (de superciliis. Nigra supercilia)

     [O brwiach Jezusowych. Brwi miał wielmi czarne a nadobne (de superciliis. Nigra supercilia)]

Descendants

• Polish: brew

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “brew”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish brew.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrɛf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛf
• Syllabification: brew

Noun

brew f

1. eyebrow

Declension

Declension of brew

	singular	plural
nominative	brew	brwi
genitive	brwi	brwi
dative	brwi	brwiom
accusative	brew	brwi
instrumental	brwią	brwiami
locative	brwi	brwiach
vocative	brwi	brwi

Derived terms

adjective

• bezbrewy

 

Further reading

• brew in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• brew in Polish dictionaries at PWN