melancholy mood accompanied by deep thought
preoccupied
a moody daydream
not paying attention or concentrating on the matter in hand
intense, or deep absorption in own thoughts
a state of abstraction, absent-mindedness, or deep thought
black mood
gloomy meditations
I realised that Sandra wasn’t concentrating on what the boss was saying and had disappeared into a brown study.
Jack was lost in a brown study and had been like that all day.
Chloe was so engrossed in a brown study that she didn’t hear the doorbell.
He was so deep in a brown study on his way home that he missed his turning.
Tanya often finds herself in a brown study, that is, in a state of deep (and usually gloomy) meditation.
There is no origin for this idiom
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definition
Common phrase that has a specific meaning.