mezzo-brown.adj.
/ˈmɛtsəʊˌbraʊ/, /ˈmɛdzəʊˌbraʊ/, U.S. /ˈmɛtsoʊˌbraʊ/, /ˈmɛ(d)zoʊˌbraʊ/ colloquial. Now rare.
A. n.
= middlebrow n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > [noun] > low-browism > lowbrow or middlebrow
lowbrow1901
middlebrow1912
lowbrow1913
mezzo-brow1925
1925 N. Playfair Story Lyric Theatre i. 6 I am not a ‘high-brow’, but what I believe is now called in America a ‘mezzo-brow’, an Uncompromising Mezzo-brow! And if you imagine that to be a ‘mezzo-brow’ means that one has no positive opinions..I give you the lie.
1945 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. I. 325 The search for a term to designate persons neither high-brows nor low-brows has led to the suggestion of mizzen-brow and mezzo-brow..but they have not caught on.
B. adj.
= middlebrow adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > [adjective] > lowbrow or middlebrow
lowbrow1907
mezzo-brow1925
middlebrow1928
upper-middlebrow1956
1925 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Nov. 751/2 (heading) A mezzo-brow manager: the story of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
1935 Punch 19 June 734/2 He deplores..the red rash of rural villadom. But, resolutely mezzo-brow, he has a good word for Blackpool beach and the roadside Lido.
1940 R. Graves & A. Hodge Long Week-end iv. 52 The mezzo-brow ‘Book of the Month’ choice of the dailies.
1958 H. Phillips Penguin Hoyle 321 I have roughly classified my [party] games as:..5. Mezzobrow games.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1925