brew Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling
    brewage.
  2. verb prepare by brewing
    • people have been brewing beer for thousands of years
  3. verb sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor
    • the tea is brewing

WordNet

Brew transitive verb
Etymology
OE. brewen, AS. breówan; akin to D. brouwen, OHG. priuwan, MHG. briuwen, brwen, G. brauen, Icel. brugga, Sw. brygga, Dan. brygge, and perh. to L. defrutum must boiled down, Gr. (for ?) a kind of beer. The original meaning seems to have been to prepare by heat. Cf. Broth, Bread.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Brewed present participle & verbal noun Brewing
Definitions
  1. To boil or seethe; to cook. Obs.
  2. To prepare, as beer or other liquor, from malt and hops, or from other materials, by steeping, boiling, and fermentation. "She brews good ale." Shak.
  3. To prepare by steeping and mingling; to concoct.
    Go, brew me a pottle of sack finely. Shak.
  4. To foment or prepare, as by brewing; to contrive; to plot; to concoct; to hatch; as, to brew mischief.
    Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver! Milton.
Brew intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To attend to the business, or go through the processes, of brewing or making beer.
    I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour. Shak.
  2. To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming, or gathering; as, a storm brews in the west.
    There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest. Shak.
Brew noun
Definitions
  1. The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed. Bacon.

Webster 1913