brown up

The term "brown up" has various meanings based on the context, from cooking and tanning to acting and sycophancy.

πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ US Voice:
πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ UK Voice:

Definition

B2Cooking

(literal)To cook or heat food until it turns a brown color.

Example

  • She browned up the onions to add more flavor to the dish.

B2Appearance

(literal)To tan or darken the skin through exposure to the sun or artificial means.

Example

  • After spending a week at the beach, he had really browned up.

C1Acting

(controversial)To apply makeup to lighten or darken an actor's skin for a role.

Example

  • The director decided to brown up the actor for the historical role.

C1Botany

(technical)To turn the stem of a plant brown, typically as a result of applying herbicide.

Example

  • The gardener noticed the Phragmites had browned up after treatment.

C1Colloquial

(informal, Caribbean)To act overly subservient or flattering towards someone to gain favor.

Example

  • Everyone could see he was just browning up to the boss to get a promotion.

Similar

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "brown up":

brown goodsgolden brownbrown stewbrown breadbroil upbrown spotbrown powerroast upbrown sugardarken upbrown saucehash browncolor upbruise upbutch upbrew uptoast upmummy brownsaddle brownbull uppink upbrown eyestew upburn upbuff up