(in folklore) a tiny, fanciful, good-natured brown elf who secretly helps at night with household chores.
a small, chewy, cakelike cookie, usually made with chocolate and containing nuts.
Australian. a bread with currants, baked in a camp oven.
Sometimes Brownie a member of the junior division of the Girl Scouts or the Girl Guides, being a girl in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade and usually between six and eight years old.
(in folklore) an elf said to do helpful work at night, esp household chores
a small square nutty chocolate cake
history a bread made with currants
another name for Brownie Guide
(formerly) a popular make of simple box camera
What is a brownie? A brownie is a small, chewy chocolate cake-like dessert that often includes nuts, as in We loved Nana’s brownies so much that we begged her to make them for every party. In British folklore, a brownie is a tiny, brown elf that secretly assists with chores during the night, as in I once heard a fairy tale about a brownie who helped a cobbler clean his workshop. Example: The first thing I learned to bake was brownies, and I still love to bake them.
See fairy.
First recorded in 1520–30; brown + -ie; in folkloric sense, originally Scots
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At a trade show in February this year, Helene Godin pitched her bakery’s mini-Bundt cakes and brownie bites to some of the biggest supermarket chains in the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
“I took an Advil and served birthday cake, brownie, chocolate fudge.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
In fact, craving something sweet, I just grabbed a post-lunch packaged brownie from WSJ’s snack-food stash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Soon after that, I mixed up brownie batter and cookie dough.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2026
“There’s nothing in that brownie except sugar and fat.”
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
We had slogans and passwords, and made the Brownie promise: “I promise to do my best, to do my duty to God and the King, to help other people every day, especially those at home.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
Stone, who was born on 13 June 1932 in Chelsea, began taking photographs aged 13 after his mother gave him a Box Brownie Kodak camera that cost two shillings and sixpence.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2024
The other is Little Brownie Bakers, which is owned by the Ferrero Group.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
She spent a week on and around that block, with Brownie and Marshmallow and a bag full of flyers about her husband.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2023
I look hard at everything, and blink, as if my two eyes were a Brownie camera taking photographs to carry back.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
“As someone who loves brownies but cannot bake, this appeals as another way to get that sweet smell in the house.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Her boyfriend got it from BadAsh Bakes, the viral bakery based in Pasadena best known for its cinnamon rolls, cookies, brownies and layer cakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Black bean brownies fall into the category of things that sound like a joke until they aren’t.
From Salon ● May 5, 2026
"There's nothing for the kids, no clubs, no brownies or scouts," she says.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
Microwave brownies were as close as I ever got to cooking.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
