Etymology From Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *breuwan, from Proto-Germanic *brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of burn. Cognate with Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well”), Latin fervēre (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurván, “motion of water”). It may be related to English barley.
To make tea or coffee by mixing tea leaves or coffee beans with hot water.
Elderly people sat indoors, in the damp. shabby houses, brewing malt coffee or weak tea and talking without animation […]1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 11, in Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1942, page 113:
2
To heat wine, infusing it with spices; to mull.
Go, brew me a pottle of sack finely.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:
3
To make a hot soup by combining ingredients and boiling them in water.
4
To make beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast.
5
To foment or prepare, as by brewing.
Hence with thy brew’d inchantments, foul deceiver […]1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 106:
6
To attend to the business, or go through the processes, of brewing or making beer.
I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink […]c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
7
Of an unwelcome event To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming, or gathering.
There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest,c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
Of course, no one knows what kind of flu season is brewing, the perfect storm of a new strain hitting a largely unvaccinated population or a mercifully mild few months.2004 October 29, Marco R. Della Cava, “Vaccine shortage pricks tempers”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A:
1 more example
Grant may have considered that only a performance of the very highest quality could keep him in a job - and the way his players started the game gave the 55-year-old shelter from the storm that was brewing.2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC:
She had one day to get up very early in the morning to brew, when the other servants said to her: 'You had better mind you don't get up too early, and you mustn't put any fire under the copper before two o'clock.'1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 6:
Etymology From Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *breuwan, from Proto-Germanic *brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of burn. Cognate with Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well”), Latin fervēre (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurván, “motion of water”). It may be related to English barley.
1
The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed; a brewage, such as tea or beer.
Six great bottles of one of the Hong Kong brews had been brought to wash down the brandy and the fragments of rice and mee and meat-fibres that clung to the back teeth.1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 529:
Player, give me some brew and I might just chill / But I'm the type that like to light another joint like Cypress Hill1995, “I Got 5 on It”, in Operation Stackola, performed by Luniz:
Landlady: You're not stoppin' for a brew? Gene Hunt: No thanks, love. Better crack on.2007 March 6, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3:
4
A boiled concoction or mixture of liquids and other ingredients.
In the Middle Ages, when witchcraft and thaumaturgic practices were rampant over Europe, sorceresses did a roaring trade in magic brews designed to excite the passion or to preserve affection.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 189: