brownie point
Credit or praise for good work or a good deed, often for the express purpose of currying favor.
You're really going to get some brownie points from the teacher for that fantastic essay!
noun
A small square piece of rich cake, usually made with chocolate.
Order for the brownie was placed but it took half an hour to prepare it.
[…]if she ever found out she was dying, she'd just eat brownies all day and night until the very end.
A sweet bread with brown sugar and currants.
It was an amusing sight to see the three of us, each with a huge hunch of “browny” (bread sweetened with brown sugar and currants) in one hand, and a lump of ice in the other, for there was no water within reach.
They rode quietly along to the stockman’s hut, gave their message, rested their horses for half-an-hour, and had some tea without milk, and a piece of cake made of flour, fat, and sugar, commonly known as [“]browny.”
A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would secretly do people's housework for them.
Thus, offer Brownie a piece of bread, a cup of drink, or a new coat and hood, and he flouted at it, and perhaps, in his huff, quitted the place for ever ; but leave a nice bowl of cream, and some fresh honeycomb, in a snug private corner, and they soon disappeared, though Brownie, it was to be supposed, never knew any thing of them.
"Oh, auntie, do you know what Stine says?" cried a little brown-eyed beauty; "she says I shall go with her into the hayloft to-night and give the brownie his Christmas porridge."
A copper coin, brown in colour; a penny, halfpenny, or cent.
He rose and jingled in his pockets for change and drew out two brownies. He went and set one on each of Monroe’s eyes[.]
A household spirit or revered ancestor.
noun
A junior Girl Guide.
1958 July 14, Boot by a Brash Brownie, LIFE, page 124, In Toronto young Brownies of the Girl Guides, the Canadian girl scouts, stood in parade formation with full-fledged Guides.
The ideal Brownie pack, according to the 1960 Guide Commissioner′s Handbook, would contain Brownies who were ‘alert, clean, tidy and punctual. Their uniform should be correct.’
A junior Girl Scout.
1952 March 24, Girl Scouts: They Are Observing Their 40th Birthday, LIFE, page 109, Any girl willing to follow the simple rules can join the Girl Scouts. As Brownies they will spend most of their time playing games and singing songs like the Brownie Smile Song: “I′ve something in my pocket; It belongs across my face, And I keep it very close at hand In a most convenient place.... I′m sure you couldn′t guess it If you guessed a long, long while, So I′ll take it out and put it on—It′s a great big Brownie smile!”
Most marchers were children, Girl and Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies. One Cub Scout pulled his sister in a Radio Flyer decorated with small American flags. A Brownie pushed a baby carriage crammed with a zoo of stuffed animals.
name
A nickname of the surname Brown.