Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A state of deep thought.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic, dated A
melancholy mood accompanied bydeep thought ; a moodydaydream .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a state of deep absorption or thoughtfulness
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[brown, gloomy + study, mental state.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From obsolete brown ("gloomy") and study.
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Examples
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yarb commented on the word brown study
I found him over head and ears in a brown study. What is the matter, my friend? said I, seemingly there is something upon your mind.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 5 ch. 1
September 19, 2008