brew

Etymology 1

Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *breuwan, from Proto-Germanic *brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-. Cognate with Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well”), Latin fervēre (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurván, “motion of water”). It may be related to English barley

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make tea or coffee by mixing tea leaves or coffee beans with hot water.
   Elderly people sat indoors, in the damp. shabby houses, brewing malt coffee or weak tea and talking without animation […] 1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 11, in Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1942, page 113
2. (transitive) To heat wine, infusing it with spices; to mull.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To make a hot soup by combining ingredients and boiling them in water.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To make beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast.
5. (transitive) To foment or prepare, as by brewing
6. (intransitive) To attend to the business, or go through the processes, of brewing or making beer.
7. (intransitive, of an unwelcome event) To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming, or gathering.
   Of course, no one knows what kind of flu season is brewing, the perfect storm of a new strain hitting a largely unvaccinated population or a mercifully mild few months. 2004-10-29, Marco R. Della Cava, “Vaccine shortage pricks tempers”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A
   Grant may have considered that only a performance of the very highest quality could keep him in a job - and the way his players started the game gave the 55-year-old shelter from the storm that was brewing. January 11, 2011, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC
8. (transitive, obsolete) To boil or seethe; to cook.
   She had one day to get up very early in the morning to brew, when the other servants said to her: 'You had better mind you don't get up too early, and you mustn't put any fire under the copper before two o'clock.' 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 6

noun

1. The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed; a brewage, such as tea or beer.
   1. (slang) A serving of beer.
   2. (Britain, slang) A cup of tea.
      Landlady: You're not stoppin' for a brew? Gene Hunt: No thanks, love. Better crack on. March 6 2007, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3

Etymology 2

Middle English brewe (“eyebrow”), from Old English bru (“eyebrow”). Doublet of brow

noun

1. (Britain, dialect) An overhanging hill or cliff.