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beetle-browedRate this phrase:(0.00 / 0 votes)Say it
having bushy dark and messy eyebrows; frowning; unfriendly in appearance
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This expression is very old - first recorded in William Langland's The vision of William concerning Piers Plowman, 1362: "He was bitel-brouwed..."What was meant by the term at that date is a matter of conjecture. In the 14th century there were two meanings of the noun beetle, or bitel as it was then spelled: either the insect, or a heavy-headed wooden implement used for driving in pegs etc, i.e. a mallet.

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beer and skittles, beer goggles, beer muscles, before someone's time, before you can say jack robinson, beg for mercy, beg off

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"beetle-browed." Phrases.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2018. Web. 20 Apr. 2018. <http://www.phrases.net/phrase/beetle-browed_9654>.

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