Of a color similar to that of wood or earth; SYN. brownish, dark-brown.

To fry in a pan until it changes color.

An orange of low brightness and saturation; SYN. brownness.

(1936-) US dancer and choreographer. One of the leading Postmodernist choreographers, she founded the improvisational Grand Union 1970–76. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Brown devised a series of “equipment pieces” that utilized harnesses to enable the dancers to perform movements, cantilevered out from the wall. Her works include Roof Piece 1973 (where 15 dancers, scattered over the Manhattan rooftops, were watched by an audience on an adjacent rooftop), Accumulation 1971, and Glacial Decoy 1979.
Her current style is more fluid and supple, in contrast to her earlier, deliberately angular movements. These works include Son of Gone Fishin’ 1981, Set and Reset 1983, and Lateral Pass 1985.

(1773-1858) Scottish botanist who in 1827 discovered Brownian motion. As a botanist, his more lasting work was in the field of plant morphology. He was the first to establish the real basis for the distinction between gymnosperms (pines) and angiosperms (flowering plants).
On an expedition to Australia 1801–05 Brown collected 4,000 plant species and later classified them using the “natural” system of Bernard de Jussieu (1699–1777) rather than relying upon the system of Carolus Linnaeus.
Brown was born in Montrose, Forfarshire (now Tayside). He studied medicine at Edinburgh. In the late 1790s he was introduced to English botanist Joseph Banks, and served as his librarian 1810–20, after the Australian voyage.
The concept of Brownian motion arose from his observation that very fine pollen grains suspended in water move about in a continuously agitated manner. He was able to establish that inorganic materials such as carbon and various metals are equally subject to it, but he could not find the cause of the movement (now explained by kinetic theory).
Brown also described the organs and mode of reproduction in orchids. In 1831, he discovered that a small body that is fundamental in the creation of plant tissues occurs regularly in plant cells—he called it a “nucleus”, a name that is still used.

(Scottish) (1825-1883) Scottish servant and confidant of Queen Victoria from 1858.(American) (1800-1859)
US slavery abolitionist. With 18 men, on the night of 16 Oct 1859, he seized the government arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in W Virginia, apparently intending to distribute weapons to runaway slaves who would then defend a mountain stronghold, which Brown hoped would become a republic of former slaves. On 18 Oct the arsenal was stormed by US Marines under Col Robert E Lee. Brown was tried and hanged on 2 Dec, becoming a martyr and the hero of the popular song ‘John Brown’s Body’ about 1860.
Born in Connecticut, he settled as a farmer in Kansas in 1855. In 1856 he was responsible for the “Pottawatomie massacre” when five proslavery farmers were killed. In 1858 he formed the plan for a refuge for runaway slaves in the mountains of Virginia.

(1928-) US rhythm-and-blues and soul singer. He was a pioneer of funk. Staccato horn arrangements and shouted vocals characterize his hits, which include ‘Please, Please, Please’ 1956, ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’ 1965, and ‘Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’ 1968. In that year his TV appearance appealing for calm succeeded in restraining race riots in US cities.

(1914-1985) British Labour politician. He entered Parliament in 1945, was briefly minister of works 1951, and contested the leadership of the party on the death of Gaitskell, but was defeated by Harold Wilson.

(1821-1893) English painter. He was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His pictures, which include The Last of England 1855 (City Art Gallery, Birmingham) and Work 1852–65 (City Art Gallery, Manchester), are characterized by their abundance of realistic detail and their use of symbolism.
He studied in Belgium (at Antwerp under Wappers), worked for three years in Paris, and was somewhat influenced by Overbeck and the German Nazarenes, whom he met when visiting Rome 1845. He settled in London and Rossetti was his pupil 1848. Though not a member of the English Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, he was drawn by Rossetti into its orbit and his works clearly reflect Pre-Raphaelite enthusiasms. His paintings for the Town Hall, Manchester, 1878–93, were a notable effort to interpret local and social history. His later subject pictures, romantically historico-literary, are not always harmonious in design and color, but as a colorist he excels in some small landscapes.

(1866-1938) English mathematician who studied the effect of gravity on the motions of the planets and smaller members of the Solar System. He published extremely accurate tables of the Moon's movements.
Brown was born in Hull and educated at Cambridge. In 1891 he went to the US to teach mathematics at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He was professor of mathematics at Haverford 1893–1907, and then at Yale University.
Brown suggested that the fluctuations in the Moon's mean longitude arose as a consequence of a variable rate in the rotation of the Earth. He was also interested in the asteroid belt, rejecting the theory that the asteroids had at one time have been part of a planet. During the later years of his career he calculated the gravitational effect exerted by the planet Pluto on the orbits of its nearest neighbors, Uranus and Neptune.

(1926-) US composer. He pioneered graph notation and mobile form during the 1950s, as in Available Forms II 1958 for ensemble and two conductors. He was an associate of John Cage.

(1771-1810) US novelist and magazine editor. He introduced the American Indian into fiction and is called the “father of the American novel”. Inspired by the writings of William Godwin and Mrs Radcliffe, his Wieland 1798, Ormond 1799, Edgar Huntly 1799, and Arthur Mervyn (two volumes 1799, 1800) imported the Gothic and fantastic traditions into US fiction.

(Lancelot) (1715-1783) English landscape gardener. He acquired his nickname because of his continual enthusiasm for the “capabilities” of natural landscapes.

(James) (1951-) British Labour politician. He entered Parliament in 1983, rising quickly to the opposition front bench, with a reputation as an outstanding debater. He took over from John Smith as shadow chancellor 1992. After Smith's death May 1994, he generously declined to challenge his close ally, Tony Blair, for the leadership, retaining his post as shadow chancellor.
Brown, the son of a Church of Scotland minister, won a first in history at Edinburgh University before he was 20. After four years as a college lecturer and three as a television journalist, he entered the House of Commons for Dunfermline East in 1983.