brew

UK/bɹuː/US/bɹuː/

verbB1+4 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,253 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: brewing, brewed, brews

To brew is to make a hot drink by letting water pull the flavour out of something — tea leaves in a pot, ground coffee in a jug. Leave it three minutes, then pour.

The bigger sense is beer: brewing means making it from malt and hops, which takes days and a brewery. A brew is the drink itself — in the north of England a brew is a cup of tea, and a craft brew is a beer. Storms and trouble brew as well: something is brewing means it is building up out of sight, and a brewing argument has not broken out yet. You brew beer and brew tea, but you do not brew wine, which is made. The person is a brewer, and home brew is beer made in somebody's kitchen.

Definitions of brew

1verbbrewTo make tea or coffee by soaking leaves or grounds in hot water.B1+
“She brewed a pot of coffee strong enough to stand a spoon in.”
- Said"Let the tea brew properly; I can't stand it weak."
- WrittenCoffee brewed on the stove every morning, and the smell reached the top floor.
- UsedBrew the leaves in liquid just off the bubble, never rolling.
- ContrastBrew, not boil. Boiling is the kettle's job; brewing is what the pot does afterwards, slowly. boil →
- Not thisPouring cold milk on cereal is not brewing. Brew means heat, time, and something steeping.
- SimplyBrew the drink. Wait a little.
Patternbrew tea / coffee · leave sth to brew · brew for + time · a brew · brewing
2verbmaltTo make beer from malt and hops.B2
“The pub brews its own beer in a shed at the back.”
3verbbuildingTo be building up quietly, said of trouble or bad weather.B2
“You could see a storm brewing over the hills all afternoon.”
4noundrinkA drink made by brewing, especially a beer or a cup of tea.B2
“He came back from the kitchen with two brews and no biscuits.”

Remember it

BREW → the pot turns BRown as it brews

Pour hot water on the tea leaves and wait: the pot slowly turns brown as the tea brews.

hooks ontobrown

Where it comes from

Brew goes back to Old English brēowan and a Proto-Indo-European root *bʰrewh₁- about heat and boiling. The distant cousins say the same thing: Latin fervēre, to boil, and Old Irish bruth, boiling heat. English burn grew from the same source, which is fitting — before anyone brewed anything there was fire under the pot.

Proto-Indo-European
*bʰrewh₁-
Proto-Germanic
*brewwaną
Proto-West Germanic
*breuwan
Old English
brēowan
Middle English
brewen
English, today
brew

From Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic breuwan, from Proto-Germanic brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European bʰrewh₁-. a doublet of burn. Cognate with Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (“well”), Latin ferveo (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (“motion of water”). It may be related to English barley.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of brew

1verbbrewTo make tea or coffee by soaking leaves or grounds in hot water.B1+

“She brewed a pot of coffee strong enough to stand a spoon in.”

Said"Let the tea brew properly; I can't stand it weak."
WrittenCoffee brewed on the stove every morning, and the smell reached the top floor.
UsedBrew the leaves in liquid just off the bubble, never rolling.
ContrastBrew, not boil. Boiling is the kettle's job; brewing is what the pot does afterwards, slowly. boil →
Not thisPouring cold milk on cereal is not brewing. Brew means heat, time, and something steeping.
SimplyBrew the drink. Wait a little.

Patternbrew tea / coffee · leave sth to brew · brew for + time · a brew · brewing

2verbmaltTo make beer from malt and hops.B2

“The pub brews its own beer in a shed at the back.”

3verbbuildingTo be building up quietly, said of trouble or bad weather.B2

“You could see a storm brewing over the hills all afternoon.”

4noundrinkA drink made by brewing, especially a beer or a cup of tea.B2

“He came back from the kitchen with two brews and no biscuits.”