bruise

[ brooz ]
See synonyms for bruise on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),bruised, bruis·ing.
  1. to injure by striking or pressing, without breaking the skin: The blow bruised his arm. Her pinching bruised the peaches.

  2. to injure or hurt slightly, as with an insult or unkind remark: to bruise a person's feelings.

  1. to crush (drugs or food) by beating or pounding.

  2. Metalworking. to injure the surface of (an ingot or finished object) by collision.

verb (used without object),bruised, bruis·ing.
  1. to develop or bear a discolored spot on the skin as the result of a blow, fall, etc.

  2. to become injured slightly: His feelings bruise easily.

noun
  1. an injury due to bruising; contusion.

Origin of bruise

1
before 900; Middle English bro(o)sen, bres(s)en, bris(s)en, bruisen, representing Old English brȳsan, brēsan and Anglo-French bruser,Old French bruisier, akin to briser to break; see brisance

Other words from bruise

  • un·bruised, adjective

Words that may be confused with bruise

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bruise in a sentence

  • She pointed hastily to some livid bruises upon her neck and arms, and continued with great rapidity.

  • There were also a good many other scars and bruises upon his body, for the cost of building a western railroad is usually heavy.

    The Gold Trail | Harold Bindloss
  • If you would escape Time's bruises and his heavy burdens which weigh you to the earth, you must be drunken.

    Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile Gautier
  • I managed to lift it a bit to escape further bruises as my captor roughly hauled me to the forest.

    A Virginia Scout | Hugh Pendexter
  • Welty had been taken in the night before, his bruises had been anointed, and he had been provisioned for the journey.

British Dictionary definitions for bruise

bruise

/ (bruːz) /


verb(mainly tr)
  1. (also intr) to injure (tissues) without breaking the skin, usually with discoloration, or (of tissues) to be injured in this way

  2. to offend or injure (someone's feelings) by an insult, unkindness, etc

  1. to damage the surface of (something), as by a blow

  2. to crush (food, etc) by pounding or pressing

noun
  1. a bodily injury without a break in the skin, usually with discoloration; contusion

Origin of bruise

1
Old English brӯsan, of Celtic origin; compare Irish brūigim I bruise

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012