Dictionary.com
definitions

browse

[brouz]
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR browse ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), browsed, brows·ing.

verb (used without object), browsed, brows·ing.

noun

tender shoots or twigs of shrubs and trees as food for cattle, deer, etc.
an act or instance of browsing.

RELATED CONTENT

Increase Your Ken With A New Word Of The Day Quiz
It’s time to take your favorite quiz! If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser.   Improve your vocabulary with our Visual Word of the Day videos. Tell us your favorite word from this week below (and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter)!
READ MORE
Do You Know These Science Trending Words And Discoveries?
Test out your scientific knowledge here! (And, if you need a little brush-up on some science terms, check out our Science Terms For Dummies slideshow.) If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser.
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

scan, read, peruse, skim, feed, survey, graze, nibble

Origin of browse

1400–50; late Middle English browsen, perhaps a verbal derivative of Anglo-French broz, plural of brot shoot, new growth, Old French brost < Old Low Franconian *brust bud, noun derivative of *brustjan; compare Old Saxon brustian to come into bud
Related formsbrows·er, nounnon·brows·ing, adjective, nouno·ver·browse, verb (used with object), o·ver·browsed, o·ver·brows·ing.un·brows·ing, adjective
Can be confusedbrows browse

Synonyms for browse

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR browse ON THESAURUS.COM
3. scan, skim, examine, peruse, check.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for browse

Contemporary Examples of browse

Historical Examples of browse

  • My pony had nothing but browse for supper, and he was restless.

  • They browse over the earth, but can sit up and eat like the squirrel.

    Little Men

    Louisa May Alcott

  • Sheep like to roam over the hills, and browse on the bushes and moss.

    Minnie's Pet Lamb

    Madeline Leslie

  • When cattle are turned in, they browse the tender terminal growth.

    The Apple-Tree

    L. H. Bailey

  • The man left the horse unchecked to browse by the roadside, and came to the door.

    Eli

    Heman White Chaplin

British Dictionary definitions for browse

browse

verb

to look through (a book, articles for sale in a shop, etc) in a casual leisurely manner
computing to search for and read hypertext, esp on the Internet
(of deer, goats, etc) to feed upon (vegetation) by continual nibbling

noun

the act or an instance of browsing
the young twigs, shoots, leaves, etc, on which certain animals feed

Word Origin for browse

C15: from French broust, brost (modern French brout) bud, of Germanic origin; compare Old Saxon brustian to bud
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 browse
v.

mid-15c., "feed on buds," from Middle French brouster, from Old French broster "to sprout, bud," from brost "young shoot, twig," probably from Proto-Germanic *brustjan "to bud," from PIE *bhreus- "to swell, sprout" (see breast (n.)). Lost its final -t in English on the mistaken notion that the letter was a past participle inflection. Figurative extension to "peruse" (books) is 1870s, American English. Related: Browsed; browsing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper