eyebrows

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of eyebrow.

   The makeup artist darkened both eyebrows to frame her face.

   His bushy eyebrows lifted in surprise at the question.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that serves every noun meaning of eyebrow, not only the face. In building, a roof can have eyebrows: small dormers whose roofline arches and then curves back to meet the horizontal at each end. In textile work, eyebrows are clumps of waste fiber that collect in a roller machine. The same spelling is also the verb's he/she/it form, and only the sentence tells you which one you are reading.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of eyebrow.

   Note

   Two quite different verbs share this form, and the object tells them apart. Followed by an object, it means signaling with one's eyebrows at something, as in a look that eyebrows every excuse. With no object, it belongs to the machine room: a roller machine that eyebrows is building up waste fiber. If something is being eyebrowed, it is the gesture. If nothing is, it is the machinery.

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