study


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brown study

A state of deep contemplation or rumination, as of a reverie, daydream, or meditation. It originally meant a melancholic or depressed mood or state (dating from at least the 1500s), but has since largely lost that association. It is usually preceded by "in a." Meredith sat at her desk in a brown study, carefully planning how to word her thesis proposal.
See also: brown, study

quick study

A person who can learn new material quickly. Primarily heard in US. You daughter is making great progress in her piano lessons—she's really a quick study.
See also: quick, study

in a brown study

In deep contemplative thought. The would-be poet can often be found in the local café, sequestered in the same corner armchair in a brown study.
See also: brown, study

quick study

a person who is quick to learn things. (Compare this to slow study.) Jane, who is a quick study, caught the joke immediately and laughed before everyone else.
See also: quick, study

slow study

a person who is slow to learn things. (Compare this to a slow study.) Fred, who is a slow study, never caught on to the joke.
See also: slow, study

study for something

to try to learn in preparation for an examination. I have to study for my calculus exam. Have you studied for your exam yet?
See also: study

study up on someone or something

to learn all one can about someone or something. I have to study up on Abraham Lincoln in preparation for my speech. John studied up on seashells.
See also: on, study, up

brown study, in a

Daydreaming or deeply contemplative, as in Margaret sits in the library, in a brown study. This term dates from the late 1500s, and although by then in a study had long meant "lost in thought," the reason for adding brown is unclear. Moreover, the present idiom also is ambiguous, some holding that it denotes genuine thoughtfulness and others that it signifies absentmindedness.
See also: brown

in a brown study

in a reverie; absorbed in your thoughts.
The earliest meaning of brown in English was simply ‘dark’. From this, an extended sense of ‘gloomy or serious’ developed and it is apparently from this sense that we get the phrase in a brown study .
2001 New York Review of Books When he isn't stirring up mischief, or conniving for gold, or composing beautiful poetry, he's apt to be sunk in a brown study.
See also: brown, study

study animal

n. someone who studies hard. (A play on party animal.) At the end of the school year every party animal turns into a study animal.
See also: animal, study
References in periodicals archive ?
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Results of the study indicated that students who received only small-group instruction gained in self-esteem.
Cooperative small-group instruction combined with advanced organizers and their relationship to self-concept and social studies achievement of elementary school students
25) Predictors of response were low pre-HAART viral load and no or few incidences of viral rebound during first 40 weeks of the study.
HIV treatment interruptions: a review
Doane Marketing Research conducts annual syndicated studies in corn, soybean seeds and crop chemicals and a quarterly animal health market study.
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Other patterns identified in the IWF study include a tendency to turn women with the wrong politics, such as Margaret Thatcher, into "unpersons" (or at least "unwomen"); to present only one side of controversies on such issues as the merits of day care; and to treat women who make politically incorrect choices, such as curtailing their employment to raise families, as dupes "apparently unaware that in these decisions they are following traditional gender stereotypes.
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The entire analysis of more than 200 studies and citations to the studies listed here can be found in the full study and in the unabridged web version of this essay, at www.
Positive spin: the evidence for traditional teacher certification, reexamined. (Check the Facts)
The Federal Reserve Banks conducted the study to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of the retail payment system," said Roger W.
Results of study on retail payment systems. (Announcements)
The study will accelerate the depreciation deduction claimed by the property owner.
Cost segregation study can lead to tax savings. (Insiders Outlook)
Among other efforts at various levels, OSD met the challenge with the command, control, communications and computers (C4) study program for Central Europe, designed to review and develop systematic, incremental recommendations for a country to plan its modernization and regionalization of command and control functions and processes.
Regional Airspace Initiatives in Europe
The Hutchinson Cancer study was a large-scale, long-term application of Newtonian linear science to a social intervention in a more complete and thorough style than any previous application.
Hutchinson study, gold standard or spruce goose: an epistemological view of prevention research
In a second study presented at ASBMR, risedronate was as well-tolerated as placebo in women who had previously discontinued alendronate therapy due to upper gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events.
RISEDRONATE REDUCES INCIDENCE OF GASTRIC ULCERS
A manufacturer may conduct a study of silicone gel-filled breast implants or other alternative breast implants under an IDE study approved by FDA.
AVAILABILITY OF IMPLANTS
Thus, we prepared this booklet to highlight some of the questions a person may have in thinking about joining a research study.
A Participant's Guide To Mental Health Clinical Research
In this study, we analyze the best practices of International Studies programs and offer our advice on creating an interdisciplinary program that meets the needs of students, faculty, and administrators in the twenty-first century.
International studies and Political Science
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