I. ˈbu̇sh noun
( -es )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English bush, busk, bosk; akin to Middle Dutch busch, bosch, bush, forest, Old High German busc, Old Swedish buske bush
1.
a. : shrub ; especially : a low densely branched shrub suggesting a single plant
a blueberry bush
b. : a close thicket of shrubs
bushes suitable for a hedge
c. dialect England : thorn
2.
a.
(1) : common uncultivated usually undesirable bushes
a field overgrown with bush
(2) : the mixed plant growth typical of an uncleared or uncultivated area especially when other than grass or trees
part of the land once cultivated has been abandoned, to the sea, to flood waters, or to bush — W.A.Lewis
(3) : forest , woods , jungle
in the dense bush … creepers of many kinds and of every size, from huge cables to thin cords, loop from tree to tree, pushing up to the sunlight and knotting the undergrowth into impenetrable thickets — C.D.Forde
b. : a large uncleared or uncultivated area usually scrub-covered or heavily forested : wilderness
all this property … was bush where last year nothing thrived but zebra and impala, wildebeest and bad snakes — Basil Davidson
c. : a usually vast sparsely settled area : backcountry
bush doctor
bush flying
bush airline
— usually used with the when not attributive
in the lonely bush — Henry Lawson
boys from the bush — Esther Warner
specifically : any of certain vast and sparsely settled geographical areas especially in New Zealand, Australia, Africa, and Canada
3.
a.
(1) archaic : a bunch or branch of ivy formerly hung outside a tavern to indicate wine for sale
(2) obsolete : tavern
b. : advertising — used especially with need
good wine needs no bush — Shakespeare
good essays need no bush — Yale Review
4. : something resembling or felt to resemble a bush
the ermine bush of feathers that formed the crest — W.H.St.John Hope
bushes of black smoke — Barrett McGurn
a bush of hair — Roger Senhouse
5. : sugar bush
6.
[by shortening]
: bush league — usually used in plural
finally decided to ship him back to the bushes — Scholastic Coach
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
1. : to support (as a plant) with bushes
the birch he said I could have to bush my peas — Robert Frost
2. : to mark (as a route) with bushes
a logging road across the river was bushed where the ice was safe
3. : to protect (land or game) from net poachers by placing obstacles (as bushes) to prevent effective use of a net
intransitive verb
: to extend like a bush : have the appearance of a bush
his eyebrows bushed together
he looked about 30 but surprising gray hair bushed out of his fore-and-aft cap — Richard Llewellyn
•
- bush it
III. adjective
: having a low-growing compact bushy habit — used especially of cultivated beans
bush snap beans
IV. noun
( -es )
Etymology: Dutch bus bushing, box, from Middle Dutch busse box, from Late Latin buxis — more at box
1. : bushing
2. : a threaded socket flush with a surface of a camera or projector for attachment to a tripod
V. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: to furnish with a bushing
VI. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: by shortening
: bushhammer
VII. ˈbu̇sh adjective
Etymology: bush (I) (minor league)
: falling below acceptable standards : unprofessional
the travesty was not that the speedway went the show-business route, but that the execution was so bush — J.S.Radosta