Try Our Apps
Dictionary.com

follow Dictionary.com

Is irregardless a word?

brush1

[bruhsh] /brʌʃ/
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
noun
1.
an implement consisting of bristles, hair, or the like, set in or attached to a handle, used for painting, cleaning, polishing, grooming, etc.
2.
one of a pair of devices consisting of long, thin handles with wire bristles attached, used in jazz or dance bands for keeping a soft, rhythmic beat on the trap drums or the cymbals.
3.
the bushy tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
4.
Electricity.
  1. a conductor, often made of carbon or copper or a combination of the two, serving to maintain electric contact between stationary and moving parts of a machine, generator, or other apparatus.
  2. brush discharge.
5.
a feathery or hairy tuft or tassel, as on the tip of a kernel of grain or on a man's hat.
6.
an act or instance of brushing; application of a brush.
7.
a light, stroking touch.
8.
a brief encounter:
He has already had one brush with the law.
9.
a close approach, especially to something undesirable or harmful:
a brush with disaster.
verb (used with object)
10.
to sweep, paint, clean, polish, etc., with a brush.
11.
to touch lightly in passing; pass lightly over:
His lips brushed her ear.
12.
to remove by brushing or by lightly passing over:
His hand brushed a speck of lint from his coat.
verb (used without object)
13.
to move or skim with a slight contact.
Verb phrases
14.
brush aside, to disregard; ignore:
Our complaints were simply brushed aside.
15.
brush off, to rebuff; send away:
She had never been brushed off so rudely before.
16.
brush up on, to revive, review, or resume (studies, a skill, etc.):
She's thinking of brushing up on her tennis.
Also, brush up.
Idioms
17.
get the brush, to be rejected or rebuffed:
She greeted Jim effusively, but I got the brush.
18.
give the brush, to ignore, rebuff, etc.:
If you're still angry with him, give him the brush.
Origin of brush1
Middle English
Old French
1350-1400
1350-1400; (noun) Middle English brusshe, probably to be identified with brush2, if orig. sense was implement made from twigs, etc., culled from brushwood; (v.) Middle English brushen to hasten, rush, probably < Old French brosser to travel (through brush), verbal derivative of broce (see brush2)
Related forms
brushable, adjective
brusher, noun
brushlike, adjective
unbrushable, adjective
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
8. engagement, action, skirmish. See struggle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2016.
Cite This Source
Examples from the Web for brush aside
Historical Examples

  • I cannot brush aside the problem by a facile reference to reincarnation.

    Mountain Meditations L. Lind-af-Hageby

  • They cannot brush aside a cobweb, and are stopped by an insect's wing.

    Table-Talk William Hazlitt

  • Then he threw the brush aside, apparently taking no more interest in that over which he had worked so persistently.

    Man And His Ancestor Charles Morris

  • He brushes it aside as the elephant might brush aside the ineffective gadfly.

    Post-Prandial Philosophy Grant Allen

  • We tried to enjoy the moment, and to brush aside the awful thought that we must remount Rosinante and Co. next day.

    The Luck of Thirteen Jan Gordon

  • He waved his white hands as if to brush aside all opposition.

    Rodney Stone Arthur Conan Doyle

  • A queen gracious rather than a queen regnant; a queen to grant petitions rather than one to brush aside the petitioners.'

    The Fifth Queen Crowned Ford Madox Ford

  • It was cruel of him, in that insufferably self-assured tone, to brush aside my wishes.

    Mavis of Green Hill Faith Baldwin

  • Now, in face of these absurdities, we have a right to brush aside the apparent facts and ask ourselves a very vital question.

    The Red Redmaynes Eden Phillpotts

  • From time to time he had to stop digging and brush aside the accumulation at his feet.

    The Gray Phantom's Return Herman Landon
British Dictionary definitions for brush aside

brush aside

verb
1.
(transitive, adverb) to dismiss without consideration; disregard

brush1

/brʌʃ/
noun
1.
a device made of bristles, hairs, wires, etc, set into a firm back or handle: used to apply paint, clean or polish surfaces, groom the hair, etc
2.
the act or an instance of brushing
3.
a light stroke made in passing; graze
4.
a brief encounter or contact, esp an unfriendly one; skirmish
5.
the bushy tail of a fox, often kept as a trophy after a hunt, or of certain breeds of dog
6.
an electric conductor, esp one made of carbon, that conveys current between stationary and rotating parts of a generator, motor, etc
7.
a dark brush-shaped region observed when a biaxial crystal is viewed through a microscope, caused by interference between beams of polarized light
verb
8.
(transitive) to clean, polish, scrub, paint, etc, with a brush
9.
(transitive) to apply or remove with a brush or brushing movement: brush the crumbs off the table
10.
(transitive) to touch lightly and briefly
11.
(intransitive) to move so as to graze or touch something lightly
See also brush aside, brush off, brush up
Derived Forms
brusher, noun
brushlike, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Old French broisse, perhaps from brocebrush²

brush2

/brʌʃ/
noun
1.
a thick growth of shrubs and small trees; scrub
2.
land covered with scrub
3.
broken or cut branches or twigs; brushwood
4.
wooded sparsely populated country; backwoods
Word Origin
C16 (dense undergrowth), C14 (cuttings of trees): from Old French broce, from Vulgar Latin bruscia (unattested) brushwood
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cite This Source
Word Origin and History for brush aside

brush

n.

"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."

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

v.

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.

"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 (cf. 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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang definitions & phrases for brush aside

brush

noun

  1. A mustache (1820s+)
  2. A fight; squabble; disagreement: have had drug or alcohol problems, and have experienced a ''brush with the law'' (1840s+)
The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.
Cite This Source
Idioms and Phrases with brush aside

brush aside

Disregard, ignore, as in The teacher brushed aside our questions.

brush

also see:
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source

Word of the Day

Difficulty index for brush

All English speakers likely know this word

Word Value for brush

10
11
Scrabble Words With Friends

Nearby words for brush aside

Pokémon Words