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📕 rednote ID(小红书号)：3881567312

Brew: Definitions, Usage & Example Sentences (4 meaning)

Meaning 1：make a hot drink (brew)

brew 🔊
/bruː/
v.
To make a drink like tea or coffee by putting the leaves or grounds in hot water.
Brewing tea: hands pouring hot water into a mug with a tea bag, steam rising.
make a hot drink 🔊
➕
/meɪk ə hɒt drɪŋk/
v.
To prepare a beverage by steeping, boiling, or mixing ingredients in hot water.
📁 Category：Diet & Health 🔖 Level：Beginner

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation
From Old English 'brēowan', meaning to brew, make (a drink).
💡 Mnemonic
Think: A brewer brews a bitter brew in a brewery.
📖 Example
Every morning, he loves to brew a fresh pot of green tea to start his day. 🔊 Every morning, he loves to make a fresh pot of green tea to start his day.
🔗 Collocations
brew a pot of tea – to make tea in a teapot
brew coffee – to prepare coffee
freshly brewed – recently made (drink)
🔄 Synonyms
steep (v.) – To soak in a liquid to extract flavors.
infuse (v.) – To soak something to extract its soluble properties.
make (v.) – To prepare or create something.
🚫 Antonyms
chill (v.) – To make something cold.
cool (v.) – To lower the temperature of something.
🌱 Derivatives
brewer (n.) – A person or company that makes beer.
📖 Cultural Story
The word's origin in Old English connects to the fermentation process, not just for beer but also relating to the leavening of bread. This dual connection to both drink and bread underscores its ancient roots in food preparation and preservation techniques central to many cultures.

Meaning 2：ferment beer (brew)

brew 🔊
/bruː/
v.
To make beer by mixing and fermenting ingredients like malt, hops, and yeast.
Brewing beer: brewer checking fermentation tanks in a modern microbrewery.
ferment beer 🔊
➕
/ˈfɜːment bɪə/
v.
To produce beer through the process of fermentation involving malt, hops, yeast, and water.
📁 Category：Culture & History 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example
My uncle has a small setup in his garage where he likes to brew his own beer as a hobby. 🔊 My uncle has a small setup in his garage where he likes to make his own beer as a hobby.
🔗 Collocations
brew beer – to make beer
home brew – beer made at home
craft brewing – the production of beer by small, independent breweries
🔄 Synonyms
ferment (v.) – To undergo or cause to undergo fermentation.
make (v.) – To produce or create something.
🚫 Antonyms
distill (v.) – To purify a liquid by heating and cooling, as in making spirits.
🌱 Derivatives
brewery (n.) – A place where beer is made commercially.
brewing (n.) – The process or business of making beer.

Meaning 3：develop secretly (brew)

brew 🔊
/bruː/
v.
If an idea, plan, or feeling is brewing, it is starting to develop and grow, often secretly or slowly.
Brewing an idea: person planning secretly at a desk with notes and diagrams.
develop secretly 🔊
➕
/dɪˈveləp ˈsiːkrətli/
v.
To plan or devise something in a gradual, often secretive manner.
📁 Category：Behaviors & Actions 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example
The students are brewing a surprise party for their teacher's birthday next week. 🔊 The students are secretly planning a surprise party for their teacher's birthday next week.
🔗 Collocations
brew up a plan – to devise or concoct a plan
brew trouble – to cause or plan trouble
🔄 Synonyms
concoct (v.) – To create or devise (a story or plan), often with ingenuity.
hatch (v.) – To form or devise (a plot or plan) secretly.
plan (v.) – To decide on and arrange in advance.
🚫 Antonyms
reveal (v.) – To make known something that was secret.
disclose (v.) – To make secret or new information known.
🌱 Derivatives
brew-up (n.) – Informal British term for making tea, or a gathering for tea; metaphorically for a plan.

Meaning 4：impend ominously (brew)

brew 🔊
/bruː/
v.
If something bad, like trouble or a storm, is brewing, it seems likely to happen soon.
Storm brewing: dark swirling clouds gathering ominously in a dramatic sky.
impend ominously 🔊
➕
/ɪmˈpend ˈɒmɪnəsli/
v.
To be in the process of forming or accumulating, typically used for something bad or dangerous that is about to happen.
📁 Category：Social Economy 🔖 Level：Advanced

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example
You could tell from their angry whispers that an argument was brewing between the two colleagues. 🔊 You could tell from their angry whispers that an argument was about to happen between the two colleagues.
🔗 Collocations
storm is brewing – a storm is gathering and will happen soon; metaphorically, trouble is coming
trouble brewing – problems developing and likely to erupt
crisis brewing – a serious problem developing
🔄 Synonyms
loom (v.) – To appear as a threatening or vague form; to be about to happen.
gather (v.) – To come together and form a larger mass or group; to develop intensity.
impend (v.) – To be about to happen, often something threatening.
🚫 Antonyms
dissipate (v.) – To disappear or cause to disappear.
subside (v.) – To become less intense, violent, or severe.
🌱 Derivatives
brewing (adj.) – Used to describe something (especially trouble) that is developing.
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