To make a beverage like beer or tea by mixing ingredients with hot water; or to plan something secretively.
From Old English 'breowan' and Proto-Germanic 'breuwan.' Related to 'bread' through the same root—both involve fermentation and yeast. The metaphorical sense of 'plotting' comes from the idea of something developing slowly like fermentation.
Beer brewing was so important to medieval life that breweries were often safer than water sources—brewing killed disease-causing bacteria, making weak beer the drink of choice even for children. That's why 'brewery' became as important as bakeries in towns.
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