Posted by Robert Dilley on January 20, 2003 at 01:34:11 from 206.186.188.107 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: Not Toast,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, posted by Laurence Monkhouse on January 19, 2003 at 20:49:08:
The BIG Oxford gives the "thorough" and "deception" meanings of do brown and says the meaning is "suggested by roasting". A quote is given back in 1600.
Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang traces it back only to the 1820s, giving an 1824 quote "He is then said to be 'cooked' or 'done brown' and 'dished'".
Partridge (a New Zealander by origin, as I am sure Prue knows) also cites a US usage: to "do up brown".
Checking Webster's (we have lots of dictionaries) reveals "to do up right or brown" as to do carefully or thoroughly. Apparently the "deceive or take in" meaning of "do brown" did not cross the Atlantic