study

brown study

A state of deep contemplation or rumination, as of a reverie, daydream, or meditation. It originally meant a melancholic or depressed mood or state (dating from at least the 1500s), but has since largely lost that association. It is usually preceded by "in a." Meredith sat at her desk in a brown study, carefully planning how to word her thesis proposal.
See also: brown, study

in a brown study

A state of deep contemplation or rumination, as of a reverie, daydream, or meditation. It originally meant a melancholic or depressed mood or state (dating from at least the 1500s), but has since largely lost that association. Meredith sat at her desk in a brown study, carefully planning how to word her thesis proposal. The would-be poet can often be found in the local café, sequestered in the same corner armchair in a brown study.
See also: brown, study

powerstudy

To study (something) very intensely, especially within a short period of time. My wife specializes in corporate law, so she powerstudies every End User License Agreement we ever have to sign to make sure there's nothing fishy about it. I've got three finals on Monday, so I'm going to be powerstudying all weekend long.

quick study

A person who can learn new material quickly. Primarily heard in US. Your daughter is making great progress in her piano lessons—she's really a quick study.
See also: quick, study

slow study

A person who finds it difficult or takes a long time to learn something new. It's not that she's unintelligent, she is just a slow study when it comes to mathematics. Your son is a little bit of a slow study, but if he continues to practice and come to lessons, I have no doubt we can make a pianist of him yet.
See also: slow, study

study animal

Someone who studies very hard or very often. An ironic play on the phrase "party animal," meaning someone who attends parties engages in recreational activities very frequently. I goofed off for the first two years of college, but I turned into a real study animal once I realized I was close to flunking out. You'd have a lot more fun if you weren't such a study animal all the time!
See also: animal, study

study for (something)

To learn or memorize information in order to prepare for some upcoming quiz, test, examination, etc. I didn't study for my driving test because I figured it would all be intuitive. Needless to say, I don't have my driver's license yet. A: "Do you want to come to the party with us tonight?" B: "Sorry, I'm busy studying for my physics exam."
See also: study

study up on (someone or something)

To learn a lot of information about someone or something, especially in a short span of time. I want to study up on Tokyo before we travel there this summer. I always make sure to study up on any potential candidates before inviting them to an interview.
See also: on, study, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

quick study

a person who is quick to learn things. (Compare this to slow study.) Jane, who is a quick study, caught the joke immediately and laughed before everyone else.
See also: quick, study

slow study

a person who is slow to learn things. (Compare this to a slow study.) Fred, who is a slow study, never caught on to the joke.
See also: slow, study

study for something

to try to learn in preparation for an examination. I have to study for my calculus exam. Have you studied for your exam yet?
See also: study

study up on someone or something

to learn all one can about someone or something. I have to study up on Abraham Lincoln in preparation for my speech. John studied up on seashells.
See also: on, study, up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

brown study, in a

Daydreaming or deeply contemplative, as in Margaret sits in the library, in a brown study. This term dates from the late 1500s, and although by then in a study had long meant "lost in thought," the reason for adding brown is unclear. Moreover, the present idiom also is ambiguous, some holding that it denotes genuine thoughtfulness and others that it signifies absentmindedness.
See also: brown
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

in a brown study

in a reverie; absorbed in your thoughts.
The earliest meaning of brown in English was simply ‘dark’. From this, an extended sense of ‘gloomy or serious’ developed and it is apparently from this sense that we get the phrase in a brown study .
2001 New York Review of Books When he isn't stirring up mischief, or conniving for gold, or composing beautiful poetry, he's apt to be sunk in a brown study.
See also: brown, study
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

powerstudy

n. to study hard. I’ve got to powerstudy for the exam. I haven’t cracked a book all semester.

study animal

n. someone who studies hard. (A play on party animal.) At the end of the school year every party animal turns into a study animal.
See also: animal, study
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • brown study
  • brown study, in a
  • in a brown study
  • lap of the gods
  • yellow state
  • in good/poor/etc. state of repair
  • red state
  • regress
  • regress to
  • regress to (something)
References in periodicals archive
The NAS/NRC report reviewing the DTSE & E's study concluded that "in addition to providing examples of cost savings and cost avoidance that resulted from the use of M & S in acquisition, the study reinforced some of the conclusions and recommendations of prior studies." However, no other results were noted.
DoD's modeling and simulation reform in support of acquisition: stop kicking the M & S can down the road
To do this, we divided the change in level and the change in slope by the preintervention standard deviation (SD) in each study. The resulting metric has no unit, it is known in standard metaanalysis as the standardized mean difference.
Systematic review of antimicrobial drug prescribing in hospitals
Even Odum's study of the psychology of southern Blacks, Social and Mental Traits of the Negro, his 1910 sociology dissertation, used folk songs intermittently to illustrate his observations.
Lynn Moss Sanders. Howard W. Odum's Folklore Odyssey: Transformation to Tolerance through African American Folk Studies
In the study, only those people who were also taking steroids--which have complications of their own--had lower rates of serious gastrointestinal complications.
Manipulating medical study data: studies on new drugs and medical devices are being manipulated by their manufacturers through the use of flawed studies, in-pocket experts, and pressure on the FDA
Karanja added that the hardship that many African Americans endure is more "in your face" in Chicago, and that, in turn, encourages students to pursue the study. "These harsh realities create questions in the mind such as, 'Why are the overwhelming numbers of 'street people' black?'" she said.
Black power: Chicago colleges buck the trend of declining interest in African American studies programs
My experience has found that this method is used to supplement the first 2 methods and is not used for an entire study.
Cost segregation is alive and well in 2005
This observation also explains the seemingly puzzling finding in the Rakai study that while HIV prevalence went down greatly in adults, it hardly changed in adolescents (it started low and remained low) [1].
Uganda study found that death reduced HIV prevalence; did the public take home the wrong message?
For example, a study conducted in Norway (Ostad, 1998) indicated that the schools' support services had selected about ten percent of primary school children as having learning problems in mathematics when the children were in grade two.
Learning disabilities in mathematics: a review of the issues and children's performance across mathematical tests
The interdisciplinary team members specific to the initial pilot study were identified to include food and nutrition services, nursing, and speech-language pathology (SLP).
Managing dysphagia in dementia: a timed snack protocol; Recent pilot studies indicate that appropriate snacks attentively provided can produce needed weight gain
Faccione and Dodd (1995) in their study on women's help-seeking narratives for breast cancer included not only women who had self-discovered symptoms but also women who had symptoms discovered through routine mammographies and breast examinations by physicians.
Studying help-seeking for testicular cancer: some lessons from the literature (Part 2)
The study opens with a discussion of Leonardo's anatomical interests around 1489, when he made the breathtaking set of pen-and-ink skull studies that Kemp first related to the artist's deep interest in the fantasia and the inner senses.
De Figura Umana: Fisiognomica, anatomia e arte in Leonardo
The EHS study makes important contributions at the conceptual, methodological, and measurement levels.
Guest editorial
A study by Aspy and Buhler (1975) supports the influence of general self-concept in learning situations.
Cooperative small-group instruction combined with advanced organizers and their relationship to self-concept and social studies achievement of elementary school students
(21-23) Thus far, only Dybul and colleagues, (24) using an STI schedule of 7 days on treatment followed by 7 days offtreatment, observed sustained viral suppression (HIV RNA less than 500 copies/mL) for up to 68 weeks in all 8 patients who remained on study. In addition, no newly emergent drug-resistance mutations were detected, and patients experienced significant decreases in cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
HIV treatment interruptions: a review
For instance, if a company is conducting a market study about corn herbicides, some questions about seed can be added.
More bang for your buck: refocused marketing research efforts net much-needed information. (market research update)