Brush

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɹʌʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Origin

Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (compare Modern French brosse) from Vulgar Latin *bruscia from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz ("underbrush"), from Proto-Indo-European *bhreus- ("to swell, sprout"). Akin to Middle High German bürste ("brush"), Old English byrst ("bristle"), Middle High German broz ("a bud, shoot"), Old English brēost ("breast"), Proto-Slavic *bъrščь ("hogweed").

Full definition of brush

Noun

1. An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.
2. A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
3. The act of brushing something.
   She gave her hair a quick brush.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)leaves have with one winter's brush
  Fell from their boughs.
4. (uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees (Shrubland).
• 1906, Jack London, ,We broke away toward the north, the tribe howling on our track. Across the open spaces we gained, and in the brush they caught up with us, and more than once it was nip and tuck.
• 2006, Edwin Black, Internal Combustion Chapter 2, One typical Grecian kiln engorged one thousand muleloads of juniper wood in a single burn. Fifty such kilns would devour six thousand metric tons of trees and brush annually.
5. A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.
   He has had brushes with communism from time to time.
• 2013, Russell Brand, Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems' (in The Guardian, 13 September 2013)http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/13/russell-brand-gq-awards-hugo-bossThe usual visual grammar was in place – a carpet in the street, people in paddocks awaiting a brush with something glamorous, blokes with earpieces, birds in frocks of colliding colours that if sighted in nature would indicate the presence of poison.
6. The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
• 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, ...the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
7. (zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
8. (archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
• Cornhill MagazineLet us enjoy a brush across the country.
9. (music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
10. (computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
• 2007, Lee Lanier, Maya Professional Tips and Techniques (page 12)Your bitmap image appears along the painted stroke. If you'd like to permanently create a custom sprite brush, it's fairly easy to adapt an existing MEL file...
11. (video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
12. (poker, slang) The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
13. (North Wisconsin, uncountable) Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in wreathmaking.

Verb

1. To clean with a brush.Brush your teeth.
2. To untangle or arrange with a brush.Brush your hair.
3. To apply with a brush.Brush the paint onto the walls.
4. To remove with a sweeping motion.Brush the flour off your clothes.
• ShakespeareAs wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed
  With raven's feather from unwholesome fen.
5. To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.Her scarf brushed his skin.
• FairfaxSome spread their sails, some with strong oars sweep
  The waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.
• MiltonBrushed with the kiss of rustling wings.
• 1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Further to Fly”, , Warner Bros.Maybe you will find a love that you discover accidentally, who falls against you gently as a pickpocket brushes your thigh.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• shrub