brew
pronunciation
How to pronounce brew in British English:
UK [bruː]
How to pronounce brew in American English:
US [bruː]
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- Noun:
- drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling
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- Verb:
- prepare by brewing
- sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor
Word Origin
- brew
- brew: [OE] The ancestral meaning of brew has basically to do with ‘heat’. It comes from an Indo-European base *bhreu- or *bhru, which is also the source of Latin fervēre ‘boil’, from which we get fervent, ferment, and the second syllable of comfrey. Broth and possibly bread can be traced back to the same Indo-European base, and some etymologists have linked it with burn. To ‘brew’ was thus originally something like ‘make a drink by boiling’, ‘fermentation’ being a secondary but connected connotation.=> broth, comfrey, ferment, fervent
- brew (v.)
- Old English breowan "to brew" (class II strong verb, past tense breaw, past participle browen), from Proto-Germanic *breuwan "to brew" (cognates: Old Norse brugga, Old Frisian briuwa, Middle Dutch brouwen, Old High German briuwan, German brauen "to brew"), from PIE root *bhreuə- "to bubble, boil, effervesce" (cognates: Sanskrit bhurnih "violent, passionate," Greek phrear "well, spring, cistern," Latin fervere "to boil, foam," Thracian Greek brytos "fermented liquor made from barley," Russian bruja "current," Old Irish bruth "heat;" Old English beorma "yeast;" Old High German brato "roast meat"), the original sense thus being "make a drink by boiling." Related: Brewed; brewing.
- brew (n.)
- c. 1500, "a brewed beverage," from brew (v.).
Example
- 1. Foster 's also lost contracts to brew four licensed brands after it changed hands .
- 2. Often it 's the work of " black witches " looking to enhance their brew .
- 3. The current ban makes it illegal to brew beer with more than 1 per cent alcohol by volume .
- 4. This brew is being stirred by a worsening succession crisis .
- 5. Even without the kicker the brew is impure .