mid-brown.adj.adv.
/mɪdˈbraʊ/, U.S. /ˌmɪdˈbraʊ/ (in senses A. 2 and main sense)Brit. /ˈmɪdbraʊ/, U.S. /ˈmɪdˌbraʊ/ A. n.
1. The middle of a person's brow.
ΚΠ
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 497 Bloom raises his head... Her eyes strike him in midbrow.
1929 R. Jeffers Dear Judas 106 A coal-black stallion Eyed with one burning eye in the mid brow.
1998 Tampa Bay (Florida) Business Jrnl. (Nexis) 8 May 3 Farrior charges $400 for a combination of furrowed mid-brow and crow's-feet treatments.
2. = middlebrow n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > mediocrity > [noun] > mediocre person > of broad or average cultural interests
middlebrow1912
broad-brow1927
mid-brow1928
1928 Sunday Express 1 July 12/6 Delighting the low-brow, the mid-brow, and the high-brow with equal facility.
1959 Manch. Guardian 10 Aug. 3/2 The dramatic policy is good average mid-brow.
1964 Punch 19 Feb. 268/1 When the Midbrows are first showing signs of moving in.
1995 SF Weekly (Nexis) 13 Dec. The Reader's Digest for midbrows, Harper's presents a monthly critique of the American Empire.
B. adj.
= middlebrow adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > mediocrity > [adjective] > of broad or average cultural interests
middlebrow1928
mid-brow1966
1966 R. A. Downie tr. O. del Buono Bond Affair 158 It is superficial, banal, midbrow wherever psychological analysis is attempted.
1983 Amer. Lit. Dec. (advt.) Literary critics have seldom known what to do with him [sc. Thornton Wilder], finding suspect his wide popularity and ‘mid-brow’ outlook.
C. adv.
On the middle of a person's brow.
ΚΠ
1998 K. Lette Altar Ego ii. 18 Striding towards the window, Kate planted a wet one midbrow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.adv.1922