brush

pronunciation

How to pronounce brush in British English: UK [brʌʃ] word uk audio image

How to pronounce brush in American English: US [brʌʃ] word us audio image

Noun:

a dense growth of bushes
an implement that has hairs or bristles firmly set into a handle
momentary contact
conducts current between rotating and stationary parts of a generator or motor
a minor short-term fight
the act of brushing your teeth
the act of brushing your hair
contact with something dangerous or undesirable
Verb:

rub with a brush, or as if with a brush
touch lightly and briefly
clean with a brush
sweep across or over
remove with or as if with a brush
cover by brushing

Word Origin

brush: brush: [14] It is not clear whether brush for sweeping and brush as in brushwood are the same word, although both appeared in the language at about the same time, from a French source. Brush ‘broken branches’ comes from brousse, the Anglo-Norman version of Old French broce, which goes back to an unrecorded Vulgar Latin *bruscia. Brush for sweeping, on the other hand, comes from Old French broisse or brosse.It is tempting to conclude that this is a variant of Old French broce, particularly in view of the plausible semantic link that brushwood (cut twigs, etc) bundled together and tied to a handle makes a serviceable brush (that is how broom came to mean ‘brush’). The verb brush ‘move fast or heedlessly’ comes from Old French brosser ‘dash through undergrowth’, a derivative of broce; its frequent modern connotation of ‘touching in passing’ comes from the other brush.

brush (v.1): late 15c., "to clean or rub (clothing) with a brush," also (mid-15c.) "to beat with a brush," from brush (n.1). Related: Brushed; brushing. To brush off someone or something, "rebuff, dismiss," is from 1941.

brush (n.1): "dust-sweeper, a brush for sweeping," late 14c., also, c. 1400, "brushwood, brushes;" from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse) "a brush" (13c.), perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bruscia "a bunch of new shoots" (used to sweep away dust), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz "underbrush."

brush (n.2): "shrubbery," early 14c., from Anglo-French bruce "brushwood," Old North French broche, Old French broce "bush, thicket, undergrowth" (12c., Modern French brosse), from Gallo-Roman *brocia, perhaps from *brucus "heather," or possibly from the same source as brush (n.1).

brush (v.2): "move briskly" especially past or against something or someone, 1670s, from earlier sense (c. 1400) "to hasten, rush," probably from brush (n.2), on the notion of a horse, etc., passing through dense undergrowth (compare Old French brosser "travel (through woods)," and Middle English noun brush "charge, onslaught, encounter," mid-14c.), but brush (n.1) probably has contributed something to it as well. Related: Brushed; brushing.

vt.