from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Having thick, prominent or projecting eyebrows.
from The Century Dictionary.
Having shaggy, bushy, prominent, or overhanging eyebrows; hence, often, sullen; scowling.
Figuratively, having an overhanging or projecting top.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
Having prominent, overhanging brows; hence, lowering or sullen.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective making an unfriendly or sullen face
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adjective sullen or unfriendly in appearance
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English bitel-brouwed , having grim brows, sullen, perhaps from bitil, betil, bug, beetle (from the resemblance of a pair of thick eyebrows to the tufted antennae of a cockchafer); see beetle, or from bitel, sharp (probably from Old English *bitol, biting, from Old English bite, bite); see bit + brouwed (from brow, brow; see brow).]
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Examples
The apes are adorable, particularly beetle-browed Go-Go.
All that has done is provide us with a rich trove of oddball entertainment ranging from Sarah Palin's dithery dead-fish metaphors to the beetle-browed death threats of G. Gordon Liddy and the blatant racism of Pat Buchanan.
My horse, inaptly named Pegasus, brings me to the base of Ahu Tepeu, a magnificent beetle-browed statue crowned with a red stone headdress weighing eleven tons.
My horse, inaptly named Pegasus, brings me to the base of Ahu Tepeu, a magnificent beetle-browed statue crowned with a red stone headdress weighing eleven tons.
With the help of a pinch of fossil bone dust, scientists have discovered that modern human beings interbred with Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago, and that 1 to 4 percent of the genes carried by non-African people are traceable to the much-caricatured, beetle-browed cavemen.
With the help of a pinch of fossil bone dust, scientists have discovered that modern human beings interbred with Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago, and that 1 to 4 percent of the genes carried by non-African people are traceable to the much-caricatured, beetle-browed cavemen.
With the help of a pinch of fossil bone dust, scientists have discovered that modern human beings interbred with Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago, and that 1 to 4 percent of the genes carried by non-African people are traceable to the much-caricatured, beetle-browed cavemen.
vendingmachine commented on the word beetle-browed
I can't say that I've paid all that much attention to a beetle's brows.
May 23, 2022