browbeat
[brou-beet]
- to intimidate by overbearing looks or words; bully: They browbeat him into agreeing.
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Origin of browbeat
Synonyms
See more synonyms for browbeat on Thesaurus.comcow, badger, tyrannize, harass, coerce.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for browbeating
Contemporary Examples
Instead, they till a middle ground, choosing to teach by example rather than by browbeating.
Historical Examples
It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover.
A Pair of Blue EyesThomas Hardy
What in hell do you mean by browbeating my nurse and forcing yourself in here!
The Lost DespatchNatalie Sumner Lincoln
Say what you please, the time for browbeating, scaring me is gone.
Deering of DealLatta Griswold
The Watertown men must soon have recovered from the browbeating he had given them.
Where the South cannot effect her object by browbeating, she wheedles.
Charles Sumner; his complete works, volume 6 (of 20)Charles Sumner
browbeat
- (tr) to discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate
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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 browbeating
browbeat
v.
"to bully," originally "to bear down with stern or arrogant looks," 1580s, from brow + beat (v.).
[I]t appears from the earliest quotations ... that the brow in question was that of the beater, not of the beaten party; but it is not evident whether the meaning was 'to beat with one's (frowning) brows,' or 'to beat (?lower) one's brows at.' [OED]
Related: Browbeaten; browbeating.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper