brown-nose (v.)

Old English brun "dark, dusky," developing a definite color sense from 13c., from Proto-Germanic *brunaz (source also of Old Norse brunn, Danish brun, Old Frisian and Old High German brun, Dutch bruin, German braun), from PIE root *bher- (2) "bright; brown."

The Old English word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," preserved only in burnish. The Germanic word was adopted into Romanic (Middle Latin brunus, Italian and Spanish bruno, French brun).

Brown sugar is from 1704. Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, is recorded by 1785. Brown study "state of mental abstraction or meditation" is from 1530s; OED says the notion is "gloomy." Brown-paper "kind of coarse, stout, unbleached paper used for wrapping" is from 1650s.

Middle English nose, from Old English nosu "the nose of the human head, the special organ of breathing and smelling," from Proto-Germanic *nuso- (source also of Old Norse nös, Old Frisian nose, Dutch neus, Old High German nasa, German Nase), from PIE root *nas- "nose."

Used of beaks or snouts of animals from mid-13c.; of any prominent or projecting part supposed to resemble a nose from late 14c. (nose cone in the space rocket sense is from 1949). Meaning "sense of smell" is from mid-14c. Meaning "odor, scent" is from 1894. In Middle English, to have one's spirit in one's nose was to "be impetuous or easily angered" (c. 1400).

Kiv, It could bee no other then his owne manne, that had thrust his nose so farre out of ioynte. ["Barnabe Riche His Farewell to Military Profession," 1581]

To pay through the nose "pay excessively" (1670s) seems to suggest bleeding. Many extended meanings are from the horse-racing sense of "length of a horse's nose," as a measure of distance between two finishers (1908). To turn up one's nose "show disdain, express scorn or contempt" is from 1818 (earlier hold up one's nose, 1570s); a similar notion is expressed in look down one's nose (1907). To say something is under (one's) nose "in plain view, directly in front of one" is from mid-15c. To be as plain as the nose on one's face "very easy to be seen or understood" is from 1590s.

1510s, "benevolent goblin supposed to haunt old farmhouses in Scotland," diminutive of brown "a wee brown man" (see brown (adj.)).

The brownie was believed to be very useful to the family, particularly if treated well by them, and to the servants, for whom while they slept he was wont to do many pieces of drudgery. In appearance the brownie was said to be meager, shaggy, and wild. [Century Dictionary]

As "small square of rich chocolate cake," often with nuts, 1897. As a brand-name of a type of inexpensive camera, 1900. The name for the junior branch of the Girl Guides or Girl Scouts is by 1916, in reference to their uniform color. Brownie point "notional credit for an achievement; favour in the eyes of another, esp. gained by sycophantic or servile behaviour" [OED] is by 1959, sometimes associated with Brownie in the Scouting sense but is perhaps rather from brown-nose.