Browse

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /bɹaʊz/

Definitions

1. To leisurely inspect and peruse a variety of items or information without a particular goal in mind To examine different choices or materials in a casual and unhurried way To explore various options or topics with a relaxed and informal approach
2. To look over or scan a collection of items informally without a fixed purpose ; to eat small amounts of leaves or shoots from plants as food
3. To casually scan through books, goods, or information in a non-committal manner ; to feed by nibbling leaves or tender parts of plants, typically by animals

Etymology: The most striking thing about "browse" is that its sense of gently scanning shelves or catalogues is the later, figurative one, while its original meaning was physical: animals nibbling the tips of shrubs. The root is a Germanic word for a sprout or bud. Old French took it as "brost," and the verb "brouster" meant to nibble off buds, sprouts and bark. Middle English borrowed this as "browsen," keeping that grazing sense. The word is a doublet of "brut," "breast" and "brush," all descended from the same ancient root meaning "to swell" or "to sprout." These cousins took very different routes into English. "Brush" once referred to a bushy growth before it came to mean a tool for sweeping, and "breast" is related to the swelling of a bud. The shift from browsing plants to browsing books happened gradually, as the image of an animal moving from leaf to leaf over a set of options came to describe a person idly moving among goods or pages without a fixed goal.

Synonyms: scan, peruse, glance, skim, leaf through

Antonyms: ignore, disregard, overlook