(~es, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is an object which has a large number of bristles or hairs fixed to it. You use ~es for painting, for cleaning things, and for tidying your hair.
We gave him paint and ~es...
Stains are removed with buckets of soapy water and scrubbing ~es.
...a hair ~.
N-COUNT
2.
If you ~ something or ~ something such as dirt off it, you clean it or tidy it using a ~.
Have you ~ed your teeth?...
She ~ed the powder out of her hair...
Using a small ~, he ~ed away the fine sawdust.
VERB: V n, V n prep, V n with adv
•
Brush is also a noun.
I gave it a quick ~ with my hair~.
N-SING: a N
3.
If you ~ something with a liquid, you apply a layer of that liquid using a ~.
Take a sheet of filo pastry and ~ it with melted butter.
VERB: V n with n
4.
If you ~ something somewhere, you remove it with quick light movements of your hands.
He ~ed his hair back with both hands...
He ~ed the snow off the windshield.
VERB: V n with adv, V n prep
5.
If one thing ~es against another or if you ~ one thing against another, the first thing touches the second thing lightly while passing it.
Something ~ed against her leg...
I felt her dark brown hair ~ing the back of my shoulder...
She knelt and ~ed her lips softly across Michael’s cheek.
VERB: V prep, V n, V n prep
6.
If you ~ past someone or ~ by them, you almost touch them as you go past them. (WRITTEN)
My father would burst into the kitchen, ~ing past my mother...
VERB: V prep/adv
7.
If you have a ~ with someone, you have an argument or disagreement with them. You use ~ when you want to make an argument or disagreement sound less serious than it really is.
My first ~ with a headmaster came six years ago...
It is his third ~ with the law in less than a year.
N-COUNT: usu N with n vagueness
8.
If you have a ~ with a particular situation, usually an unpleasant one, you almost experience it.
...the trauma of a ~ with death...
The corporation is fighting to survive its second ~ with bankruptcy.
= encounter
N-COUNT: N with n
9.
Brush is an area of rough open land covered with small bushes and trees. You also use ~ to refer to the bushes and trees on this land.
...the ~ fire that destroyed nearly 500 acres.
...a meadow of low ~ and grass.
= bush
N-UNCOUNT
10.
see also broad-~ , nail ~
11.
tarred with the same ~: see tar