Highbrow

[Yap Coolidge]

Where did the phrase 'highbrow' come from?

[barrywom]

It's a 19th-century American expression. Referring to a (often self-conscious) intellectual superiority it probably comes from the idea that a high, domed forehead suggests a bigger brain and therefore greater intellectual power. In contrast to less intelligent low-browed - Neanderthal or less intellectually developed - people.