Pa. t. and pple. brewed. Forms: 1 bréowan, 2–3 breowe(n, 3–5 brewen, 4–7 brewe, 4– brew, (also 4–5 breu, 4–6 bru, 4–7 brue, 5 brow-yn, -ne, br(u)wyn, 6 breawe). Pa. t. 1 bréaw, 3 breuȝ, 4 breuh, breu, brew; pl. 1 bruwon, 3 browe(n; also 3–7 brued, 4 breud, 4– brewed, 6– brew’d. Pa. pple. 1 (ʓe)browen, 3–4 (i-)browen, 4–5 browe, 5 bruen, brew(e, 5–6 browne, Sc. browin, brouin, broune; also 4– brewed, (4 ibrowt, 4–7 brued, 4–5 breud(e, 5 brewid, 7 bru’d). [Common Teut.: OE. bréow-an (bréaw, bruwon; (ʓe)browen) str. vb. = OS. *briuwan (MLG. bruwen, MDu. bruwen, brouwen, Du. brouwen, wk.), OHG. briuwan (MHG. briuwen, brûwen, mod.Ger. brauen) str., ON. brugga (Sw. brygga, Da. brygge) wk.; pointing to an OTeut. verb-root *brū (pre-Ger. bhreu-): cf. OHG. brû-hûs ‘brew-house.’ Outside Teutonic, the same root is perh. to be recognized in L. dēfrutum new wine boiled down, and Thracian βρῦτον (= φρῦτον) beer. Cf. BROTH, and other derivatives, which show that the root brū had originally also in Teutonic a wider sense than ‘brew,’ apparently that of ‘make a decoction, infuse.’ The strong pa. t. is found in ME. till the 14th c., and the str. pa. pple. to the 16th (the latter still in Sc.); but weak forms occur in the 13th.]
1. trans. Properly: To make (ale, beer, and the like) by infusion, boiling and fermentation.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 20. And ne bið ðær næniʓ ealo ʓebrowen mid Estum.
c. 1325. Poem temp. Edw. II., xxix. Gude ale & strong Wel ibrowen of the beste.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 54/1. Browne ale, or other drynke … pandoxor.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. Argt., How King Duncane send the Wyne and Aill browin with mukil Wort to King Sueno.
1570. Levins, Manip., 213. To Breawe, coquere potum.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 304. She brewes good Ale.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., I. 320. Malt liquors brewed for sale, which are excised at the brewery.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 69. We drank fra the hornis that never grew, The beer that was never browin.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 124. Ale the monks themselves brewed.
b. fig. with conscious reference to the literal sense.
1297. R. Glouc., 26. A luþer beuerage to here bihofþe þei browe.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 4365. A sorye beverage ther was browen!
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., IV. iv. 7. If I could temporise with my affection, Or brew it to a weake and colder pallat.
1651. Cleveland, Elegy Abp. Canterb., 2. He brews his Tears that studies to lament.
1871. Morley, Crit. Misc. (1886), III. 288. Why are we to describe the draught which Rousseau and the others had brewed … as maddening poison to the French?
c. To convert (barley, malt, or other substance) into a fermented liquor.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 133. I Bouhte hire Barly heo breuh hit to sulle.
1522. Bury Wills (1850), 118. To fynde yearelie a busshell and halffe of malte to be browne.
1713. Lond. & Country Brewer, I. (1742), 70. The Charge and Profit of brewing Six Bushels of Malt for a Private Family.
1789. Burns, O Willie brew’d a peck o’ maut.
d. absol. (often in proverbial expressions: cf. BAKE v. 6.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2348. Suilk als þai brued now ha þai dronken.
1451. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 230. Let hem drynk as they hanne brewe.
1543–4. Act 35 Hen. VIII., viii. Such persons as brew for theyr owne prouision, and not to sale.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. iv. 101. I wash, ring, brew, bake, scowre, dresse meat and drinke.
1612. Pasquil’s Night-Cap (1877), 82. You must drinke As you have bru’d; bee it small or strong.
1652. Proc. Parliament, No. 138. 2162. The Admirall … said, that as they brewed so they should bake.
1878. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. cix. 17. As he brewed, so let him drink.
† 2. To mix (liquors), mix with water, dilute. Obs.
1520. Whitinton, Vulg. (1527), 15 b. This wyne is brued [dilutum].
1587. Harrison, England, II. vi. (1877), 149. That they would neither drinke nor be serued of … such [wine] as was anie waies mingled or brued by the vintener.
1579. Tomson, Calvin Serm. Tim., 310/2. They brue, they mingle, and confound the doctrine of the gospel with their owne dreames.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vi. 101. Water and fine Sugar onely brewed together.
1641. French, Distill., V. (1651), 125. You may drop … Oil … into the Wine, and brew them well together.
† b. To pour (= L. infundere). Obs.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 1164. They … brew their new wine into new vessells.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 29. Brew them a pretie while out of one pot into another.
3. transf. ‘To make by mixing several ingredients’ (J.), as whisky punch; or by infusion, as tea.
1626. Bacon, New Atl., 29 (J.). We have Drinks also brewed with several. Herbs, and Roots, and Spices.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 417. Have a care! You are brewing that for us, now.
1861. Ramsay, Remin., ii. (ed. 18), 37. A famous hand at brewing a good glass of whisky.
1865. Athenæum, No. 1979. 429/1. Brewing a cup of coffee.
1868. ‘Holme Lee,’ B. Godfrey, xxiii. 124. The kettle was boiled, the tea brewed.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, I. vi. 101. Canst thou … alone not brew the potion?
4. To concoct, contrive, prepare, bring about, cause: spec. a. evil, mischief, trouble, woe; in early use esp. with bale, boot, bitterness, bargain, etc.
c. 1250. Hymn Virg., 30, in Trin. Hom., 256. Care of drede þat Eue bitterliche us breuȝ. Ibid., 257. Bale to breowe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4137. Baret rede i noght yee bru.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 361. Þe bitternesse þat þow hast browe brouke it þi-seluen.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxix. 239. Þis brethell has brewed moche bale.
a. 1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, IV. 448. Vnder the conditioun … that he brew na mair baill.
1578. T. Procter, Gallery Invent., in Heliconia, I. 105. Ulisses wife, whose chastnesse brued her fame.
1810. Southey, Kehama, XI. vi. All deadly plagues and pestilence to brew.
b. designs, projects, productions of the intellect.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s T., 3575. He brew this cursednesse and al this synne.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 1284. Hys wyf … Brewed the childys deth.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. xlv. 2. His heart was brewing of some notable and excellent matter.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., II. (1599), 66. It was beleeued his death was brued in a cup of poyson.
1649. Fuller, Just Man’s Funeral, 2. They do not ponder things in their heart, but onely brew them in their heads.
1803. ‘C. Caustic,’ Terr. Tractor., I. 34, note. I could not rest quietly till I had brewed a sublime treatise on the best mode of pulling down, repairing, and rebuilding, decayed and worn-out animal machines.
c. natural phenomena, as rain, wind, a storm.
1530. Palsgr., 594. Foule weather as whan it rayneth snoweth or broweth, or any otherwyse stormeth.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. ii. 156. That Sun-shine brew’d a showre for him.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 578. The Moon … bodes a Tempest on the Main, And brews for Fields impetuous Floods of Rain.
1765. Falconer, Demagogue, 185. Foundering in the storm himself had brew’d.
5. intr. To be in preparation; to be in process of mixing, concocting, production, etc.; cf. prec. senses. (The modern to be brewing, partly derived from an earlier to be a-brewing, is not altogether intrans. in origin: cf. the house is (a) building.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 118. Bituix þe ald law and þe new How crist birth bigan to brew.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 374. Your baille now brewys.
1599. Mirr. Mag., Worcester, iii. Doubtes that dayly brue.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. ii. 19. Another Storme brewing.
1677. Lond. Gaz., No. 1210/2. Some hundred Barrels of Beer brewing for the use of the Troops.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, III. 202. Thou little thinkest What work’s a brewing.
1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 82. Satisfied there is mischief brewing.
1860. Holland, Miss Gilbert, ii. 20. A storm was brewing in the domestic sky.
6. trans. Of oysters: To produce (spawn).
1865. Cornhill Mag., XI. 54. The parent oyster goes on ‘brewing’ its spawn for some time; and it is supposed that the spawn swims about with the current for a short period before it falls.
7. Comb., in which brew has the sense of brewer, brewing, as † brew-bate, one who stirs up quarrelling or dissension; brew-kettle, the vessel in which the wort and hops are boiled; † brew-lead, a leaden vessel used in brewing; brew-wife, a woman who brews, a brewster or brewster-wife. Also BREWHOUSE.
1602. Fitzherbert, Apol., 33. What resteth then to make these *brewbates so confident?
1369. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), I. 87. Plumbum meum, anglice *breuled in fournes. Ibid. (1430), II. 12. Unum brewlode, unum maskfatt.
1522. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), 106. I bequeth to my son … the brewhouse as it standeth that is to say a brewelede, with a mashefatt and a tapstone [etc.].
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VII. 354. Whederwarde he wolde þe *brew-wir hym asked.
1479. Paston Lett., 828, III. 244. He hath maried a bruewyf and kepeth the brue hous.
