Part 841

Browse (brouz), n. [OF. brost, broust, sprout, shoot, F. brout browse, browsewood, prob. fr. OHG. burst, G. borste, bristle; cf. also Armor. brousta to browse. See Bristle, n., Brush, n.] The tender branches or twigs of trees and shrubs, fit for the food of cattle and other animals; green food. Spenser.

Sheep, goats, and oxen, and the nobler steed, On browse, and corn, and flowery meadows feed. Dryden.

Browse, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Browsed (brouzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Browsing.] [For broust, OF. brouster, bruster, F. brouter. See Browse, n., and cf. Brut.] 1. To eat or nibble off, as the tender branches of trees, shrubs, etc.; -- said of cattle, sheep, deer, and some other animals.

Yes, like the stag, when snow the plasture sheets, The barks of trees thou browsedst. Shak.

2. To feed on, as pasture; to pasture on; to graze.

Fields . . . browsed by deep-uddered kine. Tennyson.

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Browse (brouz), v. i. 1. To feed on the tender branches or shoots of shrubs or trees, as do cattle, sheep, and deer.

2. To pasture; to feed; to nibble. Shak.

Brows"er (brouz"r), n. An animal that browses.

Browse"wood` (&?;), n. Shrubs and bushes upon which animals browse.

Brows"ing, n. Browse; also, a place abounding with shrubs where animals may browse.

Browsings for the deer. Howell.

Brow"spot` (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) A rounded organ between the eyes of the frog; the interocular gland.

||Bru*ang" (&?;), n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) The Malayan sun bear.

Bru"cine (&?;), n. [Cf. F. brucine, fr. James Bruce, a Scottish traveler.] (Chem.) A powerful vegetable alkaloid, found, associated with strychnine, in the seeds of different species of Strychnos, especially in the Nux vomica. It is less powerful than strychnine. Called also brucia and brucina.

Bru"cite (&?;), n. [Named after Dr. A. Bruce of New York.] (Min.) (a) A white, pearly mineral, occurring thin and foliated, like talc, and also fibrous; a native magnesium hydrate. (b) The mineral chondrodite. [R.]

Bruck"eled (&?;), a. Wet and dirty; begrimed. [Obs. or Dial.] Herrick.

||Bruh (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) [Native name.] The rhesus monkey. See Rhesus.

Bru"in (&?;), n. [D. bruin brown. In the epic poem of "Reynard the Fox" the bear is so called from his color. See Brown, a.] A bear; -- so called in popular tales and fables.

Bruise (brz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bruised (brzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Bruising.] [OE. brusen, brisen, brosen, bresen, AS. brsan or fr. OF. bruiser, bruisier, bruser, to break, shiver, perh. from OHG. brochisn. Cf. Break, v. t.] 1. To injure, as by a blow or collision, without laceration; to contuse; as, to bruise one's finger with a hammer; to bruise the bark of a tree with a stone; to bruise an apple by letting it fall.

2. To break; as in a mortar; to bray, as minerals, roots, etc.; to crush.

Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs. Shak.

Syn. -- To pulverize; bray; triturate; pound; contuse.

Bruise, v. i. To fight with the fists; to box.

Bruising was considered a fine, manly, old English custom. Thackeray.

Bruise, n. An injury to the flesh of animals, or to plants, fruit, etc., with a blunt or heavy instrument, or by collision with some other body; a contusion; as, a bruise on the head; bruises on fruit.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises. Isa. i. 6.