I. ˈbrəsh noun
( -es )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English brusch, from Middle French broce, from Old French, perhaps of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish froech heather — more at brier
1. : brushwood
2.
a. : scrub vegetation
b. : land covered with scrub vegetation : brushland — often used with the
helped work cattle in the Florida brush — F.B.Gipson
3. chiefly Australia : a dense growth of forest and undergrowth
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
1. : to clear (land) of brush and undergrowth
brush the back forty
2. : to use cut-off branches as supports for (vines and plants)
peas should be brushed
III. noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English brusshe, from Middle French broisse, from Old French broce brushwood
1.
a. : a hand-operated or power-driven tool or device composed of bristles set into a back or a handle or attached to a roller and designed or adapted for such uses as sweeping, scrubbing, painting, and smoothing
a floor brush
a wire brush
b. : one of a pair of long slender devices of this kind with flexible wire bristles used for making soft rhythmic hissing sounds on a cymbal or snare drun especially in a dance band
2. : something resembling or suggesting a brush
a thick brush of wavy hair
as
a. : a heavily haired bushy tail (as that of a fox or squirrel or of certain dogs or cats)
the fox had a handsome red brush
b.
(1) : an herb ( Lepachys columnifera ) of the western United States resembling a coneflower
(2) : the young strobile or gynoecium of the hop
(3) : a tuft of hairs (as on the tip of the wheat kernel)
(4) : the inflorescence of the broomcorn
c. : a feather tuft worn on a hat
a cock-green Tyrolean brush in my hat — Saul Bellow
3.
a. : an electrical conductor commonly in the form of a bundle of copper strips or wire gauze or a block of carbon serving as a means of connection by sliding contact between a stationary and a moving part of an electric circuit (as between line and armature of a generator or a motor)
b. : brush discharge
4.
[ brush (IV) ]
a. : an act or instance of brushing
he gave his old suit a quick brush
b. : a quick light touch : a fleeting momentary contact
she felt the brush of his coat as he hurried by
c.
(1) : a light stroke with one foot, toe, or heel along the floor in any direction in dancing
(2) : a low ballet kick in which the sole of the foot strikes the floor
d. slang : a quiet and decisive rejection or dismissal : brush-off
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English brusshen, from brusshe, n.
transitive verb
1.
a. : to apply a brush to or use a brush on
she was brushing her hair
take the bread from the oven and brush the loaves with butter
b. : to apply with a brush
the paint must be brushed carefully onto the porous surface
2.
a. : to remove with a brush or by an act similar to brushing
brush the dust from your shoes
he … brushed the ash from his cigarette — Nevil Shute
b. : to push or force especially in the course of physical motion
two men brushed their way through the crowd
brush obstacles aside
c. : to dispose of in an offhand way : dismiss or reject summarily or perfunctorily — usually used with aside, away, or off
impatiently brushed aside the thought — Kathleen Freeman
brushed our thanks away — Thomas Wood †1950
asked a polite question but was brushed off
3.
a. : to pass lightly over or across : touch gently against in passing
my left hand brushed the wall and found the doorknob — Hartley Howard
b. : affect , touch
the spirit of compromise which responsibility brings has not brushed him — Time
4. : to beat (fibers) lightly to cause fraying or roughening rather than cutting in papermaking
5. dialect chiefly England : trim , clip
brushing the shrubbery
intransitive verb
1. : to make the contact or motion or perform the action of brushing something
other stewards and messmen were scouring, scrubbing, brushing, mopping — Nation's Business
2. of a horse : to interfere slightly so as to produce abrasion
V. adjective
Etymology: brush (III)
: resembling a brush especially in being bristly or cut relatively short and of even length
a brush haircut
a brush mustache
VI. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English bruschen to rush, drive (influenced in meaning by 3 & brush ) (IV), from Middle French brosser to dash through underbrush, from broce, brosse, broisse underbrush
intransitive verb
: to move so lightly or deftly as to be scarcely perceptible : move so as to graze, skim over, or sweep something
brush past people quickly without hitting them carelessly with your umbrella — Agnes M. Miall
transitive verb
: to force (a horse) to top speed over a short distance
VII. noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English brusche rush, hostile collision (influenced in meaning by 3 & brush ) (IV), from bruschen to rush, drive
1. : a brief or fleeting encounter ; usually : one that involves an element of risk or contention
he had several brushes with the law
a brush with enemy troops
2. : a usually short often impromptu race
the horses came even and their riders decided to have a brush