brush1

[bruhsh] /brʌʃ/
noun
1.
an implement consisting of bristles, hair, or the like, set in or attached to a handle, used for painting, cleaning, polishing, grooming, etc.
2.
one of a pair of devices consisting of long, thin handles with wire bristles attached, used in jazz or dance bands for keeping a soft, rhythmic beat on the trap drums or the cymbals.
3.
the bushy tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
4.
Electricity.
  1. a conductor, often made of carbon or copper or a combination of the two, serving to maintain electric contact between stationary and moving parts of a machine, generator, or other apparatus.
  2. brush discharge.
5.
a feathery or hairy tuft or tassel, as on the tip of a kernel of grain or on a man's hat.
6.
an act or instance of brushing; application of a brush.
7.
a light, stroking touch.
8.
a brief encounter:
He has already had one brush with the law.
9.
a close approach, especially to something undesirable or harmful:
a brush with disaster.
verb (used with object)
10.
to sweep, paint, clean, polish, etc., with a brush.
11.
to touch lightly in passing; pass lightly over:
His lips brushed her ear.
12.
to remove by brushing or by lightly passing over:
His hand brushed a speck of lint from his coat.
verb (used without object)
13.
to move or skim with a slight contact.
Verb phrases
14.
brush aside, to disregard; ignore:
Our complaints were simply brushed aside.
15.
brush off, to rebuff; send away:
She had never been brushed off so rudely before.
16.
brush up on, to revive, review, or resume (studies, a skill, etc.):
She's thinking of brushing up on her tennis.
Also, brush up.
Idioms
17.
get the brush, to be rejected or rebuffed:
She greeted Jim effusively, but I got the brush.
18.
give the brush, to ignore, rebuff, etc.:
If you're still angry with him, give him the brush.
Origin
1350-1400; (noun) Middle English brusshe, probably to be identified with brush2, if orig. sense was implement made from twigs, etc., culled from brushwood; (v.) Middle English brushen to hasten, rush, probably < Old French brosser to travel (through brush), verbal derivative of broce (see brush2)
Related forms
brushable, adjective
brusher, noun
brushlike, adjective
unbrushable, adjective
Synonyms
8. engagement, action, skirmish. See struggle.

brush2

[bruhsh] /brʌʃ/
noun
1.
a dense growth of bushes, shrubs, etc.; scrub; thicket.
2.
a pile or covering of lopped or broken branches; brushwood.
3.
bushes and low trees growing in thick profusion, especially close to the ground.
4.
Also called brushland. land or an area covered with thickly growing bushes and low trees.
5.
backwoods; a sparsely settled wooded region.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English brusshe < Middle French broisse, Old French broce underbrush (compare Anglo-French brousson wood, brusseie heath), perhaps < Vulgar Latin *bruscia excrescences, derivative of Latin bruscum knot or excrescence on a maple tree
Related forms
brushiness, noun

Brush

[bruhsh] /brʌʃ/
noun
1.
Katharine, 1902–52, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
Examples from the web for brush
  • Tollers need to be brushed with a pin brush and slicker once to twice a week.
British Dictionary definitions for brush

brush1

/brʌʃ/
noun
1.
a device made of bristles, hairs, wires, etc, set into a firm back or handle: used to apply paint, clean or polish surfaces, groom the hair, etc
2.
the act or an instance of brushing
3.
a light stroke made in passing; graze
4.
a brief encounter or contact, esp an unfriendly one; skirmish
5.
the bushy tail of a fox, often kept as a trophy after a hunt, or of certain breeds of dog
6.
an electric conductor, esp one made of carbon, that conveys current between stationary and rotating parts of a generator, motor, etc
7.
a dark brush-shaped region observed when a biaxial crystal is viewed through a microscope, caused by interference between beams of polarized light
verb
8.
(transitive) to clean, polish, scrub, paint, etc, with a brush
9.
(transitive) to apply or remove with a brush or brushing movement: brush the crumbs off the table
10.
(transitive) to touch lightly and briefly
11.
(intransitive) to move so as to graze or touch something lightly
See also brush aside, brush off, brush up
Derived Forms
brusher, noun
brushlike, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Old French broisse, perhaps from brocebrush²

brush2

/brʌʃ/
noun
1.
a thick growth of shrubs and small trees; scrub
2.
land covered with scrub
3.
broken or cut branches or twigs; brushwood
4.
wooded sparsely populated country; backwoods
Word Origin
C16 (dense undergrowth), C14 (cuttings of trees): from Old French broce, from Vulgar Latin bruscia (unattested) brushwood
Word Origin and History for brush
n.

"dust-sweeper, a brush for sweeping," late 14c., also, c.1400, "brushwood, brushes;" from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse) "a brush" (13c.), perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bruscia "a bunch of new shoots" (used to sweep away dust), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz "underbrush."

"shrubbery," early 14c., from Anglo-French bruce "brushwood," Old North French broche, Old French broce "bush, thicket, undergrowth" (12c., Modern French brosse), from Gallo-Romance *brocia, perhaps from *brucus "heather," or possibly from the same source as brush (n.1).

v.

late 15c., "to clean or rub (clothing) with a brush," also (mid-15c.) "to beat with a brush," from brush (n.1). Related: Brushed; brushing. To brush off someone or something, "rebuff, dismiss," is from 1941.

"move briskly" especially past or against something or someone, 1670s, from earlier sense (c.1400) "to hasten, rush," probably from brush (n.2), on the notion of a horse, etc., passing through dense undergrowth (cf. Old French brosser "travel (through woods)," and Middle English noun brush "charge, onslaught, encounter," mid-14c.), but brush (n.1) probably has contributed something to it as well. Related: Brushed; brushing.

Slang definitions & phrases for brush

brush

noun
  1. A mustache (1820s+)
  2. A fight; squabble; disagreement: have had drug or alcohol problems, and have experienced a ''brush with the law'' (1840s+)

Idioms and Phrases with brush

brush

also see:
Encyclopedia Article for brush

device composed of natural or synthetic fibres set into a handle that is used for cleaning, grooming, polishing, writing, or painting. Brushes were used by man as early as the Paleolithic Period (began about 2,500,000 years ago) to apply pigment, as shown by the cave paintings of Altamira in Spain and the Perigord in France. In historical times the early Egyptians used brushes to create their elaborate tomb paintings, while the ancient Chinese employed the tip of a long-haired brush to make the many intricate characters of their writing, a practice continued in the Orient today.

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