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The meaning and origin of the expression: Beetle-browed

Beetle-browed

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What's the meaning of the phrase 'Beetle browed'?

With a furrowed or prominent brow, or worried expression. Formerly, with large or bushy eyebrows.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Beetle browed'?

This expression is very old - first recorded in William Langland's The vision of William concerning Piers Plowman, 1370-90:

"He was bitel-brouwed..."

What was meant by the term at that date is a matter of conjecture. In the 14th century there were two meanings of the noun beetle, or bitel as it was then spelled: either the insect, or a heavy-headed wooden implement used for driving in pegs etc, that is, a mallet.

Beetle browedOur current usage of beetle-browed tends to refer to the forehead, which would suggest the mallet origin. In Langland's day brow always meant eyebrow. Beetle-browed referred to tufted eyebrows, which resembled the antennae of beetles. Many of the early citations refer explicitly to eyebrows; for example, Randle Cotgrave's A dictionarie of the French and English tongues, 1611:

"Beetle-browed - Sourcilleux, having very great eye brows, frowning, or looking sowrely; surlie or proud of countenance."

The weight of evidence points toward the derivation being the resemblance of bushy eyebrows to beetles' antennae.

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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