Defn: The dowitcher or red-breasted snipe. See Dowitcher.
BROWN BILL
Brown" bill`. Etym: [Brown + bill cutting tool.]
Defn: A bill or halberd of the 16th and 17th centuries. See 4th Bill. Many time, but for a sallet, my brainpan had been cleft with a brown bill. Shak.
Note: The black, or as it is sometimes called, the brown bill, was a kind of halberd, the cutting part hooked like a woodman's bill, from the back of which projected a spike, and another from the head. Grose.
BROWNIAN
Brown"i*an, a.
Defn: Pertaining to Dr. Robert Brown, who first demonstrated (about 1827) the commonness of the motion described below. Brownian movement, the peculiar, rapid, vibratory movement exhibited by the microscopic particles of substances when suspended in water or other fluids.
BROWNIE Brown"ie, n. Etym: [So called from its supposed tawny or swarthy color.]
Defn: An imaginary good-natured spirit, who was supposed often to perform important services around the house by night, such as thrashing, churning, sweeping. [Scot.]
BROWNING
Brown"ing, n.
1. The act or operation of giving a brown color, as to gun barrels, etc.