browse Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun vegetation (such as young shoots, twigs, and leaves) that is suitable for animals to eat
    • a deer needs to eat twenty pounds of browse every day
  2. noun reading superficially or at random
    browsing.
  3. noun the act of feeding by continual nibbling
    browsing.
  4. verb shop around; not necessarily buying
    shop.
    • I don't need help, I'm just browsing
  5. verb feed as in a meadow or pasture
    pasture; graze; range; crop.
    • the herd was grazing
  6. verb look around casually and randomly, without seeking anything in particular
    surf.
    • browse a computer directory
    • surf the internet or the world wide web
  7. verb eat lightly, try different dishes
    graze.
    • There was so much food at the party that we quickly got sated just by browsing

WordNet

Browse noun
Etymology
OF. brost, broust, sprout, shoot, F. brout browse, browsewood, prob. fr. OHG. burst, G. borste, bristle; cf. also Armor. brousta to browse. See Bristle, n., Brush, n.
Definitions
  1. The tender branches or twigs of trees and shrubs, fit for the food of cattle and other animals; green food. Spenser.
    Sheep, goats, and oxen, and the nobler steed, On browse, and corn, and flowery meadows feed. Dryden.
Browse transitive verb
Etymology
For broust, OF. brouster, bruster, F. brouter. See Browse, n., and cf. Brut.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Browsed present participle & verbal noun Browsing
Definitions
  1. To eat or nibble off, as the tender branches of trees, shrubs, etc.; -- said of cattle, sheep, deer, and some other animals.
    Yes, like the stag, when snow the plasture sheets, The barks of trees thou browsedst. Shak.
  2. To feed on, as pasture; to pasture on; to graze.
    Fields . . . browsed by deep-uddered kine. Tennyson.
Browse intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To feed on the tender branches or shoots of shrubs or trees, as do cattle, sheep, and deer.
  2. To pasture; to feed; to nibble. Shak.

Webster 1913