browbeat

See also: brow-beat

English

WOTD – 12 January 2008

Alternative forms

brow-beat

Etymology

From brow +‎ beat.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaʊ.biːt/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)

Verb

browbeat (third-person singular simple present browbeats, present participle browbeating, simple past browbeat, past participle browbeaten)

(transitive) To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.
Synonyms: bully, cow, domineer, intimidate; see also Thesaurus:intimidate

Though the teacher browbeat all the children, they still acted out during the lesson.
- 1993 November 28, Carol Muske, quoting Dudley Fitts, “Laura Riding Roughshod”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:
  Dudley Fitts reared far back, pronouncing her [Laura Riding] with “few equals” when it came to “browbeating an audience into conviction by sheer force of arrogance, among any poets living or dead.”

Related terms

browbeater

Translations

to bully in an intimidating way

Arabic: أَخَافَ (ʔaḵāfa), أَرْعَبَ (ʔarʕaba), خَوَّفَ (ar) (ḵawwafa), أَرْهَبَ (ʔarhaba)
Bulgarian: спла́швам (bg) impf (splášvam), спла́ша pf (spláša)
Catalan: intimidar (ca)
Czech: zastrašovat impf, zastrašit pf
Dutch: intimideren (nl), inschuchteren, bruuskeren (nl)
Finnish: pelotella (fi), tyrannisoida (fi), pomottaa (fi)
French: intimider (fr), brusquer (fr)
German: einschüchtern (de)
Greek: αποπαίρνω (el) (apopaírno)
Italian: intimidire (it)
Polish: zastraszać (pl) impf, zastraszyć pf
Portuguese: intimidar (pt)
Russian: запу́гивать (ru) impf (zapúgivatʹ), пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), страща́ть (ru) impf (straščátʹ), наводи́ть страх (ru) impf (navodítʹ strax)
Scottish Gaelic: sàraich
Spanish: intimidar (es)
Swedish: köra med, tyrannisera (sv), hunsa (sv)
Turkish: korkutmak (tr), göz korkutmak, göz dağı vermek (tr)
Vietnamese: nạt nộ (vi), bắt nạt (vi)

References

“browbeat”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
“browbeat”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.