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brush

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brush

1  [bruhsh]
Use brush in a Sentence
–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, esp. of a fox.
4. Electricity.
a. 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.
b. 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, esp. 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; (n.) ME brusshe, prob. to be identified with brush 2 , if orig. sense was implement made from twigs, etc., culled from brushwood; (v.) ME brushen to hasten, rush, prob. < OF brosser to travel (through brush), v. deriv. of broce (see brush 2 )

Related forms:
brush⋅a⋅ble, adjective
brusher, noun
brushlike, adjective

Synonyms:
8. engagement, action, skirmish. See struggle.
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brush

2  [bruhsh]
–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, esp. 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; ME brusshe < MF broisse, OF broce underbrush (cf. AF brousson wood, brusseie heath), perh. < VL *bruscia excrescences, deriv. of L bruscum knot or excrescence on a maple tree

Related forms:
brush⋅i⋅ness, noun

Brush

  [bruhsh]
–noun
Katharine, 1902–52, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To brush
brush 1   (brŭsh)   
n.  

    1. A device consisting of bristles fastened into a handle, used in scrubbing, polishing, or painting.

    2. The act of using this device.

  2. A light touch in passing; a graze.

  3. An instance of contact with something undesirable or dangerous: a brush with the law; a brush with death.

  4. A bushy tail: the brush of a fox.

  5. A sliding connection completing a circuit between a fixed and a moving conductor.

  6. A snub; a brushoff.

v.   brushed, brush·ing, brush·es

v.   tr.

    1. To clean, polish, or groom with a brush.

    2. To apply with or as if with motions of a brush.

    3. To remove with or as if with motions of a brush.

  2. To dismiss abruptly or curtly: brushed the matter aside; brushed an old friend off.

  3. To touch lightly in passing; graze against.

v.   intr.

  1. To use or apply a brush.

  2. To move past something so as to touch it lightly.

Phrasal Verb(s):
brush back Baseball To force (a batter) to move away from the plate by throwing an inside pitch.
brush up

  1. To refresh one's memory.

  2. To renew a skill.


[Middle English brusshe, from Old French brosse, brushwood, brush; see brush2.]
brush'er n., brush'y adj.
Synonyms: These verbs mean to make light contact with something in passing: Her arm brushed mine. I flicked the paper with my finger. The arrow glanced off the tree. The knife blade grazed the countertop. A taxi shaved the curb. The oar skims the pond's surface.
brush 2   (brŭsh)   
n.  

    1. A dense growth of bushes or shrubs.

    2. Land covered by such a growth.

  2. Cut or broken branches.


[Middle English brusshe, from Old French brosse, brushwood, from Vulgar Latin *bruscia, perhaps from Latin bruscum, knot on a maple.]
brush'y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
brush

  1. n.
    an encounter; a close shave. : My brush with the bear was so close I could smell its breath—which was vile, I might add.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

brush  (1)
"dust-sweeper," 1377, from O.Fr. broisse "a brush," probably from V.L. *bruscia "a bunch of new shoots" (used to sweep away dust), perhaps from P.Gmc. *bruskaz "underbrush." Brush off "rebuff, dismiss" is from 1941.

brush  (2)
"shrubbery," 1330, from Anglo-Fr. bruce "brushwood," O.N.Fr. broche, O.Fr. brosse, from Gallo-Romance *brocia, perhaps from *brucus "heather," or possibly from the same source as brush (1). Brushfire is from 1850.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

brush

In addition to the idioms beginning with brush, also see give someone the air (brush off); have a brush with; tarred with the same brush.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Encyclopedia

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.

Learn more about brush with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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