from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In entomology, an obscure grayish brown, resembling the hue of thick smoke.
Sorry, no etymologies found.
She was in a loose garment of smoke-brown chiffon, held in place occasionally about her luxuriously rounded figure by a heavy cord of brown silk.
The glare seemed like a blaze of white sunshine; yet it was the dazzle of the ice and nothing more for the sun was hidden; the fairness of the morning was passed; the sky was lead-coloured down to the ocean line, with a quantity of smoke-brown scud flying along it.
It may be partially smoke-brown, for the tenants of all this bleak circuit necessarily spend half the year in almost subterraneous abodes, heated by fires as ample as they have fuel to maintain; the smoke of which, deprived of any legitimate vent, constantly fills their apartments, and must have an effect in darkening the complexion, to which it very closely adheres.
Wilson Armistead, 1819?-1868. A Tribute for the Negro: Being a Vindication of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored Portion of Mankind; with Particular Reference to the African Race.