bruise
- to injure by striking or pressing, without breaking the skin: The blow bruised his arm. Her pinching bruised the peaches.
- to injure or hurt slightly, as with an insult or unkind remark: to bruise a person's feelings.
- to crush (drugs or food) by beating or pounding.
- Metalworking. to injure the surface of (an ingot or finished object) by collision.
- to develop or bear a discolored spot on the skin as the result of a blow, fall, etc.
- to become injured slightly: His feelings bruise easily.
- an injury due to bruising; contusion.
Origin of bruise
Related Words for bruise
blemish, swelling, wound, injury, discoloration, contusion, mar, injure, blacken, crush, batter, wale, mouse, mark, boo-boo, deface, pulverize, pound, beat, damageExamples from the Web for bruise
Contemporary Examples of bruise
In contrast to gentle Eva, Naps liked to draw a little blood in bed, to bruise and be bruised in return.
As Obama and others press to raise the federal minimum wage about $7.25, skeptics say such a move could bruise the economy.
I got a bruise in the shape of a detailed boot print etched in my back.
Interview With Canadian Filmmaker John Greyson Following His Release from Cairo's Tora PrisonJesse Rosenfeld
October 11, 2013
For the record: A bloody toe for a ballerina is like a bruise for a boxer: ho-hum.
Something triggers his temper—the push may be hard enough to make her bruise.
Historical Examples of bruise
His grasp did not bruise, it did not seem to be tight; but the hand that held it was immovable.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Lay it on a flat plate, and bruise it with the blade of a knife.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
Nana insisted it was a bruise that Leonie had given her when they were having a bit of a rough-house.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
Wash some roots of sorrel quite clean, bruise them in a mortar, and steep them in white wine vinegar for two or three days.
Then drain off the water, bruise the bread fine, and mix it with as much new milk as will make a pap of a moderate thickness.
bruise
- (also intr) to injure (tissues) without breaking the skin, usually with discoloration, or (of tissues) to be injured in this way
- to offend or injure (someone's feelings) by an insult, unkindness, etc
- to damage the surface of (something), as by a blow
- to crush (food, etc) by pounding or pressing
- a bodily injury without a break in the skin, usually with discoloration; contusion
Word Origin for bruise
Word Origin and History for bruise
Old English brysan "to crush, bruise, pound," from Proto-Germanic *brusjanan, from PIE root *bhreus- "to smash, crush" (cf. Old Irish bronnaim "I wrong, I hurt;" Breton brezel "war," Vulgar Latin brisare "to break"). Merged by 17c. with Anglo-French bruiser "to break, smash," from Old French bruisier "to break, shatter," perhaps from Gaulish *brus-, from the same PIE root. Related: Bruised; bruising.
1540s, from bruise (v.).
bruise
(brōōz)- An injury to underlying tissues or bone in which the skin is unbroken, often characterized by ruptured blood vessels and discolorations; a contusion.