▪ I. † brune, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 bryne, byrne, (byrn), 2–4 brune (y), 4 brene.
[OE. bryne:—OTeut. *bruni-z burning, f. ablaut stem brun- of brin-n-an to burn. Cf. ON. bruni:—*brunon- in same sense. The Kentish form was brene: brenne was rather a new formation on stem of ME. brennen, paving the way for the later burne, burn n.]
Burning, a burn.
| c 890 K. ælfred Bæda iv. xxv. (title) (Bosw.) ær ðam ðe ðæt mynster mid bryne fornumen wære. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xx. 12 Ðæs ðæᵹes hæto vel byrn. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 130 Wiþ bryne, ᵹenim finules niþeardes. a 1225 Ancr. R. 296 Þe cwene..þet mid one strea brouhte o brune alle hire huses. a 1240 Ureisun in Lamb. Hom. 203 Þer þis brune were. 1340 Ayenb. 264 Helle is..Vol of brene onþolyinde. [1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 28 b, Catell hauynge no such brenne.] |
| fig. a 1225 Ancr. R. 254 Þe brune of golnesse. |
▪ II. brune, n.2
(bryn)
[a. F. brune, fem. of brun brown.]
A dark-complexioned girl or woman, a brunette.
| 1865 ‘Ouida’ Strathmore I. ii. 41 Now with a blonde, and now with a brune. 1870 R. Broughton Red as Rose xiii, Priscilla, a beady-eyed, brisk brune. 1894 Meredith Ld. Ormont x, Brunes are exceptional in England. |