▪ I. brew, v.
(bruː)
Pa. tense and pple. brewed (bruːd). Forms: 1 bréowan, 2–3 breowe(n, 3–5 brewen, 4–7 brewe, 4– brew, (also 4–5 breu, 4–6 bru, 4–7 brue, 5 brow-yn, -ne, br(u)w-yn, 6 breawe). pa. tense 1 bréaw, 3 breuȝ, 4 breuh, breu, brew; pl. 1 bruwon, 3 browe(n; also 3–7 brued, 4 breud, 4– brewed, 6– brew'd. pa. pple. 1 (ᵹe)browen, 3–4 (i-)browen, 4–5 browe, 5 bruen, brew(e, 5–6 browne, Sc. browin, brouin, broune; also 4– brewed, (4 ibrowt, 4–7 brued, 4–5 breud(e, 5 brewid, 7 bru'd).
[Common Teut.: OE. bréow-an (bréaw, bruwon; (ᵹe)browen) str. vb. = OS. *briuwan (MLG. bruwen, MDu. bruwen, brouwen, Du. brouwen, wk.), OHG. briuwan (MHG. briuwen, brûwen, mod.Ger. brauen) str., ON. brugga (Sw. brygga, Da. brygge) wk.; pointing to an OTeut. verb-root *brū̆ (pre-Ger. bhreu-): cf. OHG. brû-hûs ‘brewhouse’. Outside Teutonic, the same root is perh. to be recognized in L. dēfrutum new wine boiled down, and Thracian βρῦτον (= ϕρῦτον) beer. Cf. broth, and other derivatives, which show that the root brū̆ had originally also in Teutonic a wider sense than ‘brew’, apparently that of ‘make a decoction, infuse’. The strong pa. tense is found in ME. till the 14th c., and the str. pa. pple. to the 16th (the latter still in Sc.); but weak forms occur in the 13th.]
1. a. trans. Properly: To make (ale, beer, and the like) by infusion, boiling, and fermentation.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §20 And ne bið ðær næniᵹ ealo ᵹebrowen mid Estum. c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II, xxix, Gude ale & strong Wel ibrowen of the beste. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 54/1 Browne ale, or other drynke..pandoxor. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. Argt., How King Duncane send the Wyne and Aill browin with mukil Wort to King Sueno. 1570 Levins Manip. 213 To Breawe, coquere potum. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 304 She brewes good Ale. 1768 Blackstone Comm. i. 320 Malt liquors brewed for sale, which are excised at the brewery. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake 69 We drank fra the hornis that never grew, The beer that was never browin. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 124 Ale the monks themselves brewed. |
b. fig. with conscious reference to the literal sense.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 26 A luþer beuerage to here bihofþe þei browe. c 1325 Coer de L. 4365 A sorye beverage ther was browen! 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. iv. 7 If I could temporise with my affection, Or brew it to a weake and colder pallat. 1651 Cleveland Elegy Abp. Canterb. 2 He brews his Tears that studies to lament. 1871 Morley Crit. Misc. (1886) III. 288 Why are we to describe the draught which Rousseau and the others had brewed..as maddening poison to the French? |
c. To convert (barley, malt, or other substance) into a fermented liquor.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 133, I Bouhte hire Barly heo breuh hit to sulle. 1522 Bury Wills (1850) 118 To fynde yearelie a busshell and halffe of malte to be browne. 1713 Lond. & Countr. Brew. i. (1742) 70 The Charge and Profit of brewing Six Bushels of Malt for a Private Family. 1789 Burns, O Willie brew'd a peck o' maut. |
d. absol. (often in proverbial expressions: cf. bake v. 6.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2848 Suilk als þai brued now ha þai dronken. 1451 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 230 Let hem drynk as they hanne brewe. 1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII, viii, Such persons as brew for theyr owne prouision, and not to sale. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. iv. 101, I wash, ring, brew, bake, scowre, dresse meat and drinke. 1612 Pasquil's Night-Cap (1877) 82 You must drinke As you have bru'd; bee it small or strong. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 138. 2162 The Admirall..said, that as they brewed so they should bake. 1878 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cix. 17 As he brewed, so let him drink. |
† 2. a. To mix (liquors), mix with water, dilute. Obs.
| 1520 Whittinton Vulg. (1527) 15 b, This wyne is brued [dilutum]. 1587 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) 149 That they would neither drinke nor be serued of..such [wine] as was anie waies mingled or brued by the vintener. 1579 Tomson Calvin Serm. Tim. 310/2 They brue, they mingle, and confound the doctrine of the gospel with their owne dreames. 1620 Venner Via Recta vi. 101 Water and fine Sugar onely brewed together. 1641 French Distill. v. (1651) 125 You may drop..Oil..into the Wine, and brew them well together. |
† b. To pour (= L. infundere). Obs.
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 1164 They..brew their new wine into new vessells. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 29 Brew them a pretie while out of one pot into another. |
3. a. transf. ‘To make by mixing several ingredients’ (J.), as whisky punch; or by infusion, as tea.
| a 1626 Bacon (J.) We have drinks also brewed with several herbs and roots, and spices. 1825 Bro. Jonathan I. 417 Have a care! You are brewing that for us, now. 1861 Ramsay Remin. ii. (ed. 18) 37 A famous hand at brewing a good glass of whisky. 1865 Athenæum No. 1979. 429/1 Brewing a cup of coffee. 1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey xxiii. 124 The kettle was boiled, the tea brewed. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. vi. 101 Canst thou..alone not brew the potion? |
b. Colloq. phr. to brew up: to make tea.
| 1916 Daily Mail 1 Nov. 4/4 ‘Brew up’ or ‘drung up’ (to make tea, over-seas expressions). 1943 A. Clifford Three against Rommel xxxiii. 389, I thought we might brew up. |
4. To concoct, contrive, prepare, bring about, cause: spec. a. evil, mischief, trouble, woe; in early use esp. with bale, boot, bitterness, bargain, etc.
| c 1250 Hymn Virg. 30 in Trin. Hom. 256 Care of drede þat Eue bitterliche us breuȝ. Ibid. 257 Bale to breowe. a 1300 Cursor M. 4137 Baret rede i noght yee bru. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 361 Þe bitternesse þat þow hast browe brouke it þi-seluen. c 1440 York Myst. xxix. 239 Þis brethell has brewed moche bale. a 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 448 Vnder the conditioun..that he brew na mair baill. 1578 T. Procter Gallery Invent. in Heliconia I. 105 Ulisses wife, whose chastnesse brued her fame. 1810 Southey Kehama xi. vi, All deadly plagues and pestilence to brew. |
b. designs, projects, productions of the intellect.
| c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 3575 He brew this cursednesse and al this synne. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 1284 Hys wyf..Brewed the childys deth. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xlv. 2 His heart was brewing of some notable and excellent matter. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. ii. (1599) 66 It was beleeued his death was brued in a cup of poyson. 1649 Fuller Just Man's Fun. 2 They do not ponder things in their heart, but onely brew them in their heads. 1803 ‘C. Caustic’ Terr. Tractor. i. 34 note, I could not rest quietly till I had brewed a sublime treatise. |
c. natural phenomena, as rain, wind, a storm.
| 1530 Palsgr. 594 Foule weather as whan it rayneth snoweth or broweth, or any otherwyse stormeth. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. ii. 156 That Sun-shine brew'd a showre for him. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 578 The Moon..bodes a Tempest on the Main, And brews for Fields impetuous Floods of Rain. 1765 Falconer Demag. 185 Foundering in the storm himself had brew'd. |
5. intr. To be in preparation; to be in process of mixing, concocting, production, etc.: cf. prec. senses. (The modern to be brewing, partly derived from an earlier to be a-brewing, is not altogether intrans. in origin: cf. the house is (a) building.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 118 Bituix þe ald law and þe new How crist birth bigan to brew. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 314 Your baille now brewys. 1599 Mirr. Mag., Worcester iii, Doubtes that dayly brue. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 19 Another Storme brewing. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1210/2 Some hundred Barrels of Beer brewing for the use of the Troops. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 202 Thou little thinkest What work's a brewing. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 82 Satisfied there is mischief brewing. 1860 Holland Miss Gilbert ii. 20 A storm was brewing in the domestic sky. |
6. trans. Of oysters: To produce (spawn).
| 1865 Cornhill Mag. XI. 54 The parent oyster goes on ‘brewing’ its spawn for some time; and it is supposed that the spawn swims about with the current for a short period before it falls. |
7. Comb., in which brew has the sense of brewer, brewing, as † brew-bate, one who stirs up quarrelling or dissension; brew-kettle, the vessel in which the wort and hops are boiled; † brew-lead, a leaden vessel used in brewing; brew-wife, a woman that brews, a brewster or brewster-wife. Also brewhouse.
| 1602 Fitzherbert Apol. 33 What resteth then to make these *brewbates so confident? |
| 1369 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) I. 87 Plumbum meum, anglice *breuled in fournes. 1430 Ibid. II. 12 Unum brewlede, unum maskfatt. 1522 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) 106, I bequeth to my son..the brew⁓house as it standeth, that is to say a brewelede, with a mashefatt and a tapstone, etc. |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 354 Whederwarde he wolde þe *brew-wif hym asked. 1479 Paston Lett. 828 III. 244 He hath maried a bruewyf and kepeth the brue hous. |
▪ II. brew, n.1
[f. brew v.]
a. The action, process, or result, of brewing; the beverage, etc. brewed; sometimes used locally for ‘yeast’.
| c 1510 Ch.-Wardens' Acc. St. Dunstan's Canterb., For a quarton of Brew jd. ob. 1627 Bacon Sylva (J.) Trial..made of the like brew with potatoe roots..which are nourishing meats. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ix. 621 The brew of thunders. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. viii. 90 Our brew of beer..turns out excellent. 1859 J. Lang Wand. India 338 Give us a little drop more of that last brew. |
b. brew-up: (a pause for) the making of tea; cf. brew v. 3 b. colloq.
| 1944 A. Jacob Traveller's War vi. 123 The crews halted for a ‘brew up’ near us: some drank tea,..others took a nap. 1963 Times 26 Jan. 9/7 The..petrol tins which the Desert Rats found equally handy for washing in or for a ‘brew-up’. |
▪ III. brew, n.2
(bruː)
Local var. brow n.1 6 b.
| 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xxvii. 176 Nearer the cliff I found this, and this; and then down the brew itself..I saw this other one. 1891 ‘L. Keith’ Halletts II. v. 107 He'll stand quiet enough;..it's the grass on the brew he's after. 1927 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 126/1 The brews of the ditches or hedge-bottoms. |