verb
browse
browz
verb
1
To look through something casually, without a specific goal in mind.
"She liked to browse the shelves of the second-hand bookshop."
"He was just browsing online, not planning to buy anything."
2
Of an animal, to feed on leaves, shoots, or shrubs.
"The deer browsed on the low branches at the edge of the woods."
How to Use Browse
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo look around casually — through a shop, a website, or (for animals) through leaves and shrubs — without a fixed goal.
Common pairings
browse the internet
browse through a catalogue
browse for shoes
Word Forms
browsed past tense, browses plural, browses singular
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She liked to _____ the shelves of the second-hand bookshop.
Etymology
From Old French brouster, "to nibble buds and shoots" — the original sense was about animals grazing, and the casual "look around" meaning developed from that image of sampling a little here and there.