eyebrown.
/ˈʌɪbraʊ/, U.S. /ˈaɪˌbraʊ/ 1.
a. The (usually arched) line of short fine hair along the upper edge of each of a person's eye sockets. Frequently in plural.Sometimes with reference to movement of the eyebrows expressing a particular attitude or emotion, esp. raising or arching them in surprise, disapproval, scepticism, etc.: see also to raise one's eyebrows at Phrases 2a. Cf. eyebrow v. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > hair > eyebrow > [noun]
overbrowOE
breec1275
bryn1330
bent browc1380
superciliuma1398
brow1398
eyebrowa1450
winbrow?1473
beetle1532
eye-bree1543
bow1729
arch-brow1741
bush1859
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1932) III. l. 27422 (MED) For schame vndir his helm he gan to Frowne, and there his Eye-browes he caste adowne.
a1500 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 626 Supercilium, yebrowe.
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 27 Supercilium, the ridge of haire aboue the eye lids or the eye browes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 149 The Louer,..with a wofull ballad Made to his Mistresse eye-brow . View more context for this quotation
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis iv. 67 [They] pluck off all the haire of their Eye-brows, taking great pride..in that unnaturall depilation.
1691 J. Ray Wisdom of God 180 Above stand the Eye-Brows to keep off any thing from running down upon them [sc. the eyes].
1734 tr. C. Le Brun Method to learn to design Passions 29 Contempt is expressed by the Eye brows knit and lowering towards the Nose, and at the other end very much elevated.
1777 T. Percival Father's Instr. to Children 137 She had taken infinite pains to pluck her eyebrows.
1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain iii. xxvi. 173 Shade thine eye-brows with thine hand.
1860 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (ed. 2) VI. 276 He had the arched eyebrow..of the beautiful Plantagenet face.
1898 Argosy Oct. 451 ‘Indeed?’ she answered, arching her eyebrows.
1920 R. A. Freeman Savant's Vendetta v. 91 A strip of court-plaster, carried tightly up the middle of the forehead..altered the angle of the eyebrows and completely changed the expression.
1977 E. Figes Nelly's Version i. xvi. 138 He looked at me long and levelly from under his somewhat bushy eyebrows.
1997 ‘Q’ Deadmeat 53 Hunter's eyebrows went up in mock surprise.
2009 New Yorker 26 Oct. 64/1 The water had enough chlorine in it to..bleach the hair and eyebrows of the crew albino-white.
b. An artificial imitation of this, whether consisting of actual hairs or drawn on with a pencil or the like.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > practice of wearing artificial hair > [noun] > artificial eyebrows
eyebrow1616
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne iv. ii, in Wks. I. 569 All her teeth were made i' the Blacke-Friers: both her eye-browes i' the Strand, and her haire in Siluer-street. View more context for this quotation
1674 T. Duffett Amorous Old-woman iii. vi. 42 (stage direct.) She pulls off her Eye-brows.
1703 R. Steele Tender Husband iii. i Pr'y thee, wench, bring me my black eyebrows out of the next room.
1718 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 270 The Slattern had left in the Hurry..Her Lady's Complexion and Eyebrows at Calais.
1751 F. Coventry Hist. Pompey the Little iv. 37 Teeth and Hair and Eye-brows and Complexions are all as cheap as Fans and Gloves and Ribbons.
1800 M. G. Lewis East Indian (ed. 2) iii. ii. 42 I paid the Lord knows what for a new pair of the very best arched eye-brows!
1870 All Year Round 31 Dec. 117/2 Mouse-skin eyebrows, that Mrs. Wyvern used to stick on.
1925 Pop. Sci. Monthly Dec. 55/1 This startling fad of wearing patent-leather eyebrows was introduced recently to Hollywood.
1947 Life 1 Dec. 136/2 Among other things, Pinza kept the following items in stock: 35 noses, 47 beards,..and 41 pairs of eyebrows.
2008 L. A. Butler If your Hair falls out, keep Dancing x. 92 Lightly powder over the top of your new eyebrows. And be careful not to rub because they will come off.
c. A line or ridge of contrasting colour above the eye of a bird. Cf. supercilium n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [noun] > coloured band or stripe
fillet1668
eyebrow1738
breastband1819
eyeline1863
1738 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds II. 10 The Horn Owl. Otus sive asio... The Eyebrows redish Brown.
1752 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. III. 487 The eyes [of the woodcock] are large..; there is a naked space over them, by way of eyebrow, which is of a fine bright scarlet.
1816 H. Salt Voy. Abyssinia App. IV. 437 Crown of the head and back of the neck, brownish sea-green; front and chin dirty rufous white, extending as an eyebrow over the eyes.
1859 C. R. Bree Hist. Birds Europe I. 193 It [sc. Naumann's thrush, Turdus naumanni] is readily recognised at all ages by the dark brown tint of the feathers covering the ears, and by the clear bright colour of the eyebrows.
1933 Condor 35 202 High on the forehead were heavy dark eyebrows as though the bird wore heavy horn-rimmed spectacles.
2009 J. Yow Armchair Birder 7 Slightly smaller than the Carolina wren and also lacking Carolina's conspicuous white eyebrow, the house wren is an even more prodigious builder than its cousin.
2. The ridge above the eye in the skull or face; the superior margin of the orbit. Cf. eyebrow ridge n. at Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > parts of skull > [noun] > socket of eye > parts of or associated with
eyebrow1583
meditullium1683
superciliary ridge1726
superciliary arch1733
supraorbital1797
lacrimal1822
suborbital1824
suborbitary1825
suborbitar1828
superciliary1831
eyebrow ridge1837
eye cap1837
orbitosphenoid1847
prefrontal1851
superorbital1854
jugum sphenoidale1887
ungual bone1888
1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke iv. x. 189 You may see the eyes wonderful hollow, as thoughe they were hid in some ditches or furrowes, for then all the moist substance of them is exhaust and consumed, so that you maye see the bones of the eyebrowes sticke out.
1657 N. Culpeper & W. Rand tr. J. Riolan Sure Guide iv. iii. 137 Now the Eye-brow is a Fleshy Hillock, adorned with Hairs, which serves for a Penthouse to overshadow the Eyes.
1671 J. Halfpenny Gentleman's Jocky 67 If an Horse..of any dark colour, shall grow grissel only above his eye browes.
1799 F. Buchanan in Asiatic Researches (London ed.) 5 219 The eyebrows, or superciliary ridges, in this nation project very little.
1849 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. (ed. 3) 238 The super-orbital nerve was laid bare in the forehead, as it issues through the supraciliary foramen in the eyebrow.
1881 Nature 11 Aug. 337/1 Each eyebrow is produced into a flexible horn-like prominence.
1927 W. T. Ellis Bible Lands To-day xv. 266 The eyes that once looked out from beneath the protruding eyebrows of the skull.
2010 P. C. H. Albers & J. de Vos Through Eugene Dubois' Eyes 5 However, a decade later in the Neanderthal near Düsseldorf a skull was found with heavy eyebrows.
3. Architecture. Any of various mouldings or other structural components more or less resembling an eyebrow (sense 1a), esp. in being long and thin and being situated just above an opening such as a window; (sometimes) spec. = supercilium n. 2b.In non-technical use frequently simply a figurative use of sense 1a.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > moulding > other mouldings
bowtell1376
crownwork1594
protypum1601
chaplet1623
bandeleta1645
bedding-moulding1664
quadra1664
surbase1678
platband1696
bed-moulding1703
eyebrow1703
square1703
gorge1706
nerve1728
heel1734
quirk-moulding1776
star1781
bead1799
rope moulding1813
zigzag1814
chevron-moulding1815
nebule1823
billet1835
dancette1838
pellet moulding1838
vignette moulding1842
bird's beak moulding1845
beak-head ornament1848
beak-head1849
billet moulding1851
beading1858
bead-work1881
Venetian dentil1892
chevron-work-
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 5 Annelet, or Annulet..in Architecture, 'tis used to signifie a narrow flat Moulding... 'Tis the same Member as the Sieur Mauclerc..calls a Fillet..and Brown ex Scamozzi, a Supercilium, List, Tince [sic; 1726 (ed. 2) Tinea], Eye-brow, Square, and Rabit.
1832 S. Austin tr. H. L. H. von Pückler-Muskau Tour German Prince IV. iv. 162 Hatfield is built of brick; only the eyebrows of the windows..&c. are of stone.
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 971 Eyebrow, a name sometimes given to the fillet.
1934 H. G. Wells Exper. in Autobiogr. I. v. 274 The eyebrows of the basement windows were on a level with the bottom step.
1999 J. Edwards & W. Edwards Elgin, Illinois 13 (caption) The original columns and porch banisters were kept, but the fancy eyebrows over the windows were changed to another design.
2008 Sunday Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 22 June (Suppl.) 24 The Spanish mission style..features..glazed pantiles on the roofs and eyebrows over the windows.
Phrases
P1. up to the (or one's) eyebrows: = up to the (also one's) eyes at eye n.1 Phrases 1g. Similarly to the eyebrows.
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the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > greatly or very much [phrase] > utter > utterly
all outc1300
out and outc1300
at all devicec1385
to devicec1385
right out?1543
up to the chin1546
up to the eyes1607
upsy Friese1609
up to the (or one's) eyebrowsa1627
all hollow1762
(immersed, steeped) to the lipsa1822
all ends up1850
fair and square1870
right spang1884
to the wide1895
a (also one) hundred per cent1911
the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > occupied or busy [phrase] > involved in something > deeply
up to one's (also the) neck (in)1788
up to the hub1800
up to the (or one's) eyebrows1954
a1627 T. Middleton No Wit (1657) iii. 70 He's in passion;—up to the Eyebrows for us.
1795 Feast of Merriment To Rdr. p. iv The languishing nymph, who is up to her eye-brows in love.
1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol iii. 93 Every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular, were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows!
1876 Burlington (Iowa) Hawk-eye 21 May 5/2 The farmers are all steeped in work up to their eyebrows, corn planting being the principal work.
1928 S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge iii. 178 I got lit to the eyebrows, if the truth be known—say, I was simply ossified.
1954 N. Coward Future Indefinite ii. iii. 92 To many of my acquaintances..it was a foregone conclusion that I was involved in espionage up to the eyebrows.
1968 A. Diment Great Spy Race iii. 36 He's..tanked up to the eyebrows with Acid.
2009 Private Eye 18 Sept. 27/1 [He] was up to his eyebrows in the shady dealings of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
P2.
a. to raise one's eyebrow(s) (or an eyebrow): to show surprise at, mild disapproval of, or scepticism about something. Cf. raised eyebrow n. at raised adj.1 Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > happen or move unexpectedly [verb (intransitive)] > act with surprise
abash?c1400
startc1405
startle1576
to raise one's eyebrow(s) (or an eyebrow)1849
to jump (also leap) out of one's skin1860
gloppen-
1849 C. G. F. Gore Diamond & Pearl II. xi. 242 You will be shocked..at things which would scarcely cause ninety-nine out of a hundred of those among whom I am living, to raise an eyebrow.
1890 Unitarian Rev. June 498 No one raised an eyebrow at the news.
1918 L. Strachey Eminent Victorians 28 The most steady-going churchman hardly raises an eyebrow at it now.
1956 G. H. Vallins Pattern of Eng. v. 132 Brown, though he raises his eyebrows a little at the usage, by no means condemns it outright.
1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes 407 They will perhaps raise their eyebrows at the old reiterated parrot-cry that the triumph of Roman Christianity brought ‘civilization’ to our island.
2003 Public Performance & Managem. Rev. 26 303 The finance director raised his eyebrows at the cost.
b. to raise eyebrows: to cause surprise, scepticism, or mild disapproval; to shock.
ΚΠ
1921 Sat. Rev. 1 Oct. 394/2 While the Titanic disaster convulsed five continents this explosion on the Rhine, no less terrible, raised a few eyebrows.
1942 N.Y. Times 8 Nov. 11/1 This raised eyebrows, as no girl child of good family was supposed to be seen in public.
1990 Times Educ. Suppl. 7 Dec. 47/3 Some eyebrows may be raised..by the rather ambitious and decidedly emotive topic.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 July 27/1 To be told..that the Darwinian explanation has had its day, will raise a few eyebrows.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
ΚΠ
1653 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis (rev. ed.) Table, sig. *****1 Eye-brow rites, or the Eye-brows abused contrary to Nature.
1657 N. Culpeper & W. Rand tr. J. Riolan Sure Guide v. vii. 218 (side note) The Forehead Muscles should rather be called the Eye-brow Muscles.
1849 Hooker's Jrnl. Bot. 1 163 He was a dirty, ill-conditioned looking fellow, with no bumps behind his ears, or prominence of eyebrow region.
1869 Herald of Health June 264/2 A slight contraction of those eyebrow fibers, exponent of pain.
1918 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 May 223/1 The skull-fragments are part of the right frontal bone in the eyebrow region.
1938 Sudan Notes & Rec. 21 323 This bird..has a less marked eyebrow stripe and a grey breast.
1978 A. Ritchie & G. Ritchie Anc. Monuments Orkney 37 The SE cell is decorated with..two ‘eye-brow’ motifs.
2004 Time Out N.Y. 17 June 30/3 Having your stray eyebrow hairs removed by threading is less painful than waxing.
C2. With reference to the cosmetic piercing of the flesh around the eyebrow, or to ornaments worn in such a piercing, as eyebrow ring, eyebrow stud, etc.
ΚΠ
1992 San Francisco Chron. 7 Aug. d4/4 He then provided his left eyebrow ring with a partner.
1994 Atlanta Jrnl. & Constit. (Nexis) 25 Nov. e4 Need a nose ring? Longing for a labret? Envious of an eyebrow piercing?
1998 A. Warner Sopranos 260 Nail varnish had been re-applied an Chell's eyebrow stud returned to its rightful place.
2003 J. Burdett Bangkok 8 (2004) xxvi. 235 [He] has no objection to tattoos but is known to dislike nose studs, eyebrow hatpins and obnoxious young farangs who do not know how to [etc.].
2009 J. Lewis-Stempel Wild Life (2010) 167 Teenage hoodies with eyebrow studs.
C3.
eyebrow box n. now rare a box for holding artificial eyebrows (cf. sense 1b).
ΚΠ
1718 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 270 Her Eye-brow-Box one Morning lost.
a1763 W. Shenstone in Sel. Lett. Duchess of Somerset & Others (1778) II. 204 What Muse forgot her Eye-brow Box she shew'd.
1886 Theater 7 69 It proved to be the last-named [sc. make-up box], and the singing chambermaid right off dubbed it his ‘eyebrow box.’
1925 A. Fielding Eames-Erskine Case xi. 235 I found an eyebrow box in the attic which bore the name of the shop.
eyebrow pencil n. a cosmetic pencil (pencil n. 2c) for defining or accentuating the eyebrows.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the face > [noun] > cosmetics for the face > for the eyes > colour for lids and brows
stibiuma1398
stibie1548
calliblephary1601
stibic stone1609
alcohol1615
eyebrow pencil1779
kohl1799
surma1819
darkener1847
mascara1886
eye-black1912
eye shadow1922
eyeshade1923
shadow1936
1779 T. Horde Pretended Puritan ii. 16 I returned home almost broken-hearted for the loss of my eye-brow pencil.
1881 Queen 12 Mar. (advt.) Eyebrow pencils, 12 stamps;..Blanc de Perle, 30.
1936 D. Powell Turn, Magic Wheel ii. 135 His wife's eyebrow pencil.
1998 D. Kulick Travestí 2 She..started searching the room for a razor blade, which she needed to sharpen her eyebrow pencil.
eyebrow plucker n. (a) a person who plucks out unwanted eyebrow hairs; (b) an implement for doing this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the face > [noun] > instruments or applicators > for thinning eyebrows
eyebrow plucker1762
eyebrow tweezers1932
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 7 Your nose-borers..eye brow pluckers, would all want bread.
1921 Francesville (Indiana) Tribune 21 July Milady will not have to resort to her eyebrow plucker so often.
1985 Sunday Times (Nexis) 6 Oct. Past eyebrow-pluckers include Lady Diana Cooper, Garbo, and Edith Sitwell.
2004 N. Grant Everyday Life of Celts 39/1 Upper-class women of the first century a.d...used all kinds of cosmetic instruments, including eyebrow pluckers and ear pickers.
eyebrow ridge n. = sense 2.Cf. brow-ridge n. at brow n.1 Compounds 2, superciliary ridge n. at superciliary adj. and n. Compounds.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > parts of skull > [noun] > socket of eye > parts of or associated with
eyebrow1583
meditullium1683
superciliary ridge1726
superciliary arch1733
supraorbital1797
lacrimal1822
suborbital1824
suborbitary1825
suborbitar1828
superciliary1831
eyebrow ridge1837
eye cap1837
orbitosphenoid1847
prefrontal1851
superorbital1854
jugum sphenoidale1887
ungual bone1888
1837 A. Tennant Veg. Materia Medica 7 There are..two eye-brow ridges, which give origin to the forehead muscles.
1920 Sci. Monthly Apr. 326 The eyebrow ridges are very prominent, as in the apes, and the skull is narrow behind the eyes.
1981 Science 8 May 695/1 A chimpanzee was anesthetized and a red odorless dye was painted onto the top of an eyebrow ridge and upper half of an ear.
2010 Internat. Herald Tribune (Nexis) 14 May 6 Neanderthals were bigger and stronger than us ‘anatomically modern humans’, and they had larger skulls that boasted prominent eyebrow ridges.
eyebrow tweezers n. tweezers for extracting unwanted hairs from the eyebrows.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the face > [noun] > instruments or applicators > for thinning eyebrows
eyebrow plucker1762
eyebrow tweezers1932
1932 Illustr. London News Christmas No. 44/2 Sure you've packed everything, Flick? Toothbrush? Sponge? Bedsocks? Eyebrow-tweezers?
2008 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) (Nexis) 22 Apr. 7 [She] advises having brows groomed professionally once a month and maintained with eyebrow tweezers in between.
Derivatives
ˈeyebrowless adj. having no eyebrows.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > hair > eyebrow > [adjective] > having no
eyebrowlessa1729
browless1823
a1729 E. Taylor Metrical Hist. Christianity (1962) 189 At Daon was a Child born handless, yes, Eye and eyebrowless, with taile of a fish.
1863 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 12 Sept. 64/2 Those four male personages..complexionless and eyebrowless.
1999 A. Arensberg Incubus iii. ix. 96 With her pale, oval, eyebrowless face set on a swan's neck..Adele was the image, in repose, of some late medieval princess.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
eyebrowv.
/ˈʌɪbraʊ/, U.S. /ˈaɪˌbraʊ/ Somewhat rare.
1. intransitive. To attend to the appearance of one's eyebrows, apply cosmetics to the eyebrows; to provide oneself with (enhanced or false) eyebrows.In quot. 1837 as a verbal noun.
ΚΠ
1837 T. Hook Jack Brag III. iv. 163 The rougeing, powdering, lip-salving, eyebrowing, and all concomitant stage tricks.
1902 M. Thomas Let. 3 July in Maisie (1992) vi. 427 Then I rouged and eyebrowed and lipped and put on patches and was complete.
2. intransitive. To make a movement with one's eyebrows expressive of disapproval, understanding, etc., at someone. Also transitive: to look at (someone) while moving one's eyebrows in this way.In quot. 1876: to persuade out of a course of action by a disapproving look of this kind.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > motivation > demotivation > demotivate [verb (transitive)] > discourage
remove?a1425
discourage1437
revoke1447
disporta1450
to take offa1616
to work off1627
to put off1631
dishearten1634
disinvitea1641
to put or set (anyone) by1768
eyebrow1876
1876 A. D. Whitney Sights & Insights iii. 15 I find it is only the unusual things..that you are eyebrowed out of.
1903 E. W. Townsend Summer in N.Y. x. 157 Papa started to ask ‘why’; but Aunt Sue eyebrowed at me, and he asked if we'd been having much rain.
1912 F. Swinnerton Happy Family ii. 14 [They] looked on and grinned in sympathy, and eyebrowed at each other significantly at the plain trend of certain incidents.
1914 Green Bk. Mag. July 168/2 Small Portion eyebrowed him again to keep the lush lady out of the concatenation. Then Pabst eyebrowed him to meet him in the cloak-room.
2004 S. Dunn Sassy Cinderella & Valiant Vigilante v. 78 Wesley scolded me with his furled eyebrows... I eyebrowed him back.
3. transitive. To be situated above (something) in the manner of an eyebrow above an eye. rare.
ΚΠ
1877 Idaho Avalanche 11 Aug. 1/3 The beautiful valley like eye of man in shape..fringed at the lids with lashes of evergreen forests; eyebrowed above by the frowning Cascades.
1997 Toronto Star (Nexis) 18 Oct. g1 Those tasty flares eyebrowing each wheel well are made of steel.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1450
v.1837