browser

[brou-zer] /ˈbraʊ zər/
noun
1.
a person or thing that browses.
2.
Also called Web browser. Digital Technology. a software program that allows the user to find and read encoded documents in a form suitable for display, especially such a program for use on the World Wide Web.
Related forms
nonbrowser, noun

browse

[brouz] /braʊz/
verb (used with object), browsed, browsing.
1.
to eat, nibble at, or feed on (leaves, tender shoots, or other soft vegetation).
2.
to graze; pasture on.
3.
to look through or glance at casually:
He's browsing the shelves for something to read.
verb (used without object), browsed, browsing.
4.
to feed on or nibble at foliage, lichen, berries, etc.
5.
to graze.
6.
to glance at random through a book, magazine, etc.
7.
to look leisurely at goods displayed for sale, as in a store.
noun
8.
tender shoots or twigs of shrubs and trees as food for cattle, deer, etc.
9.
an act or instance of browsing.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English browsen, perhaps a verbal derivative of Anglo-French broz, plural of brot shoot, new growth, Old French brost < Old Low Franconian *brust bud, noun derivative of *brustjan; compare Old Saxon brustian to come into bud
Related forms
browser, noun
nonbrowsing, adjective, noun
overbrowse, verb (used with object), overbrowsed, overbrowsing.
unbrowsing, adjective
Can be confused
brows, browse.
Synonyms
3. scan, skim, examine, peruse, check.
Examples from the web for browsers
  • This extension is freely available for users of these browsers.
  • This approach is not typically supported in browsers at present.
British Dictionary definitions for browsers

browse

/braʊz/
verb
1.
to look through (a book, articles for sale in a shop, etc) in a casual leisurely manner
2.
(computing) to search for and read hypertext, esp on the Internet
3.
(of deer, goats, etc) to feed upon (vegetation) by continual nibbling
noun
4.
the act or an instance of browsing
5.
the young twigs, shoots, leaves, etc, on which certain animals feed
Word Origin
C15: from French broust, brost (modern French brout) bud, of Germanic origin; compare Old Saxon brustian to bud

browser

/ˈbraʊzə/
noun
1.
a person or animal that browses
2.
(computing) a software package that enables a user to find and read hypertext files, esp on the Internet
Word Origin and History for browsers

browse

v.

mid-15c., "feed on buds," from Middle French brouster, from Old French broster "to sprout, bud," from brost "young shoot, twig," probably from Proto-Germanic *brustjan "to bud," from PIE *bhreus- "to swell, sprout" (see breast (n.)). Lost its final -t in English on the mistaken notion that the letter was a past participle inflection. Figurative extension to "peruse" (books) is 1870s, American English. Related: Browsed; browsing.

browser

n.

1845, "animal which browses," agent noun from browse (v.). In the computer sense by 1982.

The first browser was invented at PARC by Larry Tesler, now a designer at Apple Computer. Tesler's first Smalltalk browser was a tree-structured device. It enabled programmers to hunt quickly for items in a Smalltalk dictionary. ["InfoWorld" magazine, vol. v., no. 4, Jan. 24, 1983]

browsers in Science
browser
  (brou'zər)   
A program that accesses and displays files and other data available on the Internet and other networks. Entering a website's URL in the address window of a browser will bring up that website in the browser's main window.
browsers in Culture

browser definition


See Web browser.