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brew

[broo]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to make (beer, ale, etc.) by steeping, boiling, and fermenting malt and hops.
  2. to make or prepare (a beverage, as tea) by mixing, steeping, soaking, or boiling a solid in water.
  3. to concoct, mix, or cook (a beverage or food, especially one containing unmeasured or unusual ingredients): She brewed a pot of soup from the leftovers.
  4. to contrive, plan, or bring about: to brew mischief.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to make a fermented alcoholic malt beverage, as beer or ale.
  2. to boil, steep, soak, or cook: Wait until the tea brews.
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noun
  1. a quantity brewed in a single process.
  2. a particular brewing or variety of malt liquor.
  3. a hot beverage made by cooking a solid in water, especially tea or coffee.
  4. any concoction, especially a liquid produced by a mixture of unusual ingredients: a witches' brew.
  5. Informal.
    1. beer or ale.
    2. an individual serving of beer or ale: Let's have a few brews after the game.
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Idioms
  1. be brewing, to be forming or gathering; be in preparation: Trouble was brewing.
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Origin of brew

before 900; Middle English brewen, Old English brēowan; akin to Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Old Norse brugga
Related formsbrew·er, nounmis·brew, verb (used with object)re·brew, verbun·brewed, adjectiveun·der·brew, verb (used with object)well-brewed, adjective
Can be confusedbrewed broodbrews bruise

Synonyms

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4. concoct, scheme, plot, devise, hatch, cook up.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

mixturemishmashliquordrinkdistillationbeverageblendbrothmelangeseetheboilloomfomenthashhodgepodgecompoundinfusionpreparationmiscellanypotpourri

Examples from the Web for brew

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Why, marry, I can brew a bowl of punch, and I can broil a devilled fowl.

    Micah Clarke

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • He must brew, bake, salt and preserve his food, and pile wood and coal.

    Essays, First Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "Ask again at the cottage at the top of the brew," he shouted.

  • Among the brasseries in Paris this the most desirable to lovers of the Bohemian brew.

    Melomaniacs

    James Huneker

  • This brew was good for fevers; and whisky was good for everything else.

British Dictionary definitions for brew

brew1

verb
  1. to make (beer, ale, etc) from malt and other ingredients by steeping, boiling, and fermentation
  2. to prepare (a drink, such as tea) by boiling or infusing
  3. (tr) to devise or planto brew a plot
  4. (intr) to be in the process of being brewedthe tea was brewing in the pot
  5. (intr) to be impending or formingthere's a storm brewing
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noun
  1. a beverage produced by brewing, esp tea or beera strong brew
  2. an instance or time of brewinglast year's brew
  3. a mixturean eclectic brew of mysticism and political discontent
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See also brew up
Derived Formsbrewer, noun

Word Origin

Old English brēowan; related to Old Norse brugga, Old Saxon breuwan, Old High German briuwan

brew2

noun
  1. Northern English dialect a hill
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for brew

v.

Old English breowan "to brew" (class II strong verb, past tense breaw, past participle browen), from Proto-Germanic *breuwan "to brew" (cf. Old Norse brugga, Old Frisian briuwa, Middle Dutch brouwen, Old High German briuwan, German brauen "to brew"), from PIE root *bhreue- "to bubble, boil, effervesce" (cf. 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.

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n.

c.1500, "a brewed beverage," from brew (v.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper