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Glite Dictionary
to knit one's brows

to knit one's brows

1 6.8
To move the eyebrows together in a small frown when thinking, confused, or worried
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : fruncir el ceño
  • She always knits her brows when she is deep in thought about a problem.

Examples

  • Scrolling, Len knits his brow: he's found something odd.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Gunther knits his brow.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Then he knits his brow.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Barney knits his brow in thought for maybe three seconds.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Frederick knit his brow: "What has happened?"

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Watching, Gary knits his brow: he looks wounded.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Reading the page Gary got from Phil, Milo knits his brow.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Seeing Gary's code, Milo knits his brow: it must be sort of like --

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Randy knits his brow as his screen flickers.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Bernzy knits his brow—but has no time to wonder: the silhouettes of Chadwick et al. are on the frosted glass.

    Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

to frown
vsto knit one's brows
160 1.0

To bring the eyebrows together and wrinkle the forehead to show dislike or concentration

is mainly a contraction above the eyes for concentration, confusion, or worry
to knit
vsto knit one's brows
3 4.2

To bring the eyebrows together to make small lines on the forehead

is used specifically for tightening the area above the eyes to show concern

Antonyms

to smile
∞ 1.0

To turn the corners of your mouth up to show happiness or friendliness

to relax
∞ 1.0

To feel less nervous and more calm

How Frowning

to scowl
33 4.1
to frown
160 1.0
to knit one's brows
  • Informal
1 6.8
to furrow
11 5.8

Surface Forms

knit one's brows infinitive
knitted one's brows past
knitted one's brows past participle
knitting one's brows present participle
knits one's brows third person singular

Morphology

knit + one + brow

The verb 'knit' in the provided definition means 'to contract into small wrinkles' and combined with 'brows' directly describes contracting the forehead/eyebrows (i.e., frowning). This is a compositional, imageable action similar to cross-linguistic expressions like 'furrow one's brow', so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings can infer the MWE.

Etymology

Knit one's brows comes from the image of the eyebrows being pulled together like when you knit cloth, so the skin between the brows makes a tight line. That pressed look came to mean 'frowning', 'worry', or 'deep thought'.