Browse Meaning
/bɹaʊz/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo scan, to casually look through in order to find items of interest, especially without knowledge of what to look for beforehand.
verbTo move about while sampling, such as with food or products on display.
Sentence Examples
I'd like you to quickly browse through these documents.
I use "Yahoo" to browse the internet.
CEFR Practice Quiz
During my lunch break, I like to ____ through the bookshop.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I like to ____ the shelves of the library for interesting new books.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English browsen, from Old French brouster, broster (“to nibble off buds, sprouts, and bark; browse”), from brost (“a sprout, shoot, bud”), from a Germanic source, perhaps Frankish *brust (“shoot, bud”), from Proto-Germanic *brustiz (“bud, shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell, sprout”). Cognate with Bavarian Bross, Brosst (“a bud”), Old Saxon brustian (“to sprout”). Doublet of brut, breast, and brush.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"At Hampton Court the little flocks of visitors are not provided with an official bellwether, but are left to browse at discretion upon the local antiquities."
— 1878, Henry James, An International Episode:
"The little room in which he found himself was plainly the bookseller's sanctum, and contained his own private library. Gilbert browsed along the shelves curiously. The volumes were mostly shabby and bruised; they had evidently been picked up one by one in the humble mangers of the second-hand vendor."
— 1919, Christopher Morley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Haunted Bookshop, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:
"HyperText is a way to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will."
— 1990 November 12, Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, “WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project”, in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):
"Sheep ranged everywhere under the low cedars. They browsed with noses in the frost, and from all around came the tinkle of tiny bells on the curly-horned rams, and an endless variety of bleats."
— 1910, Zane Grey, The Heritage of the Desert:
"Also, when planting to provide a source of browse for wintering deer and elk, protect seedlings from browsing during the first several years; an electric fence enclosure can offer effective protection."
— 1997, Kent Grant, “Wildlife Values of Conservation”, in Colorado State Forest Service, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2010:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
During my lunch break, I like to ____ through the bookshop.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I like to ____ the shelves of the library for interesting new books.