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Browns

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To astonish the Browns. To do or say something regardless of the annoyance it may cause or the shock it may give to Mrs. Grundy.

Anne Boleyn had a whole host of Browns, or “country cousins,” who were welcomed at Court in the reign of Elizabeth. The queen, however, was quick to see what was gauche, and did not scruple to reprove the Browns if she noticed anything in their conduct not comme il faut. Her bluntness of speech often “astonished the Browns.”

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Brother German
Brother Jonathan
Brother Sam
Browbeat
Brown
Brown as a Berry
Brown, Jones, and Robinson
Brown Bess
Brown Bill
Brown Study
Browns
Brownie
Brownists
Browse his Jib (To)
Bruel
Bruin
Brumaire
Brummagem
Brums
Brunehild
Brunello (in Orlando Furioso)