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definitions

brush

1
[bruhsh]
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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)
  1. to sweep, paint, clean, polish, etc., with a brush.
  2. to touch lightly in passing; pass lightly over: His lips brushed her ear.
  3. to remove by brushing or by lightly passing over: His hand brushed a speck of lint from his coat.
verb (used without object)
  1. to move or skim with a slight contact.
Verb Phrases
  1. brush aside, to disregard; ignore: Our complaints were simply brushed aside.
  2. brush off, to rebuff; send away: She had never been brushed off so rudely before.
  3. 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
  1. get the brush, to be rejected or rebuffed: She greeted Jim effusively, but I got the brush.
  2. give the brush, to ignore, rebuff, etc.: If you're still angry with him, give him the brush.

Origin of brush

1
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 formsbrush·a·ble, adjectivebrush·er, nounbrush·like, adjectiveun·brush·a·ble, adjective

Synonyms for brush

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8. engagement, action, skirmish. See struggle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for brush up

cram, refurbish, renovate, reread, retouch, review, revise, study, relearn
British Dictionary definitions for brush up

brush up

verb (adverb)
  1. (tr often foll by on) to refresh one's knowledge, skill, or memory of (a subject)
  2. to make (a person or oneself) tidy, clean, or neat as after a journey
noun brush-up
  1. British the act or an instance of tidying one's appearance (esp in the phrase wash and brush-up)

brush

1
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
  1. (tr) to clean, polish, scrub, paint, etc, with a brush
  2. (tr) to apply or remove with a brush or brushing movementbrush the crumbs off the table
  3. (tr) to touch lightly and briefly
  4. (intr) to move so as to graze or touch something lightly
See also brush aside, brush off, brush up
Derived Formsbrusher, nounbrushlike, adjective

Word Origin for brush

C14: from Old French broisse, perhaps from broce brush ²

brush

2
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 for brush

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
Word Origin and History for brush up

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-Romance *brocia, perhaps from *brucus "heather," or possibly from the same source as brush (n.1).

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

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 (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
Idioms and Phrases with brush up

brush up

1

Clean, refurbish, as in We plan to get the house brushed up in time for the party. [c. 1600]

2

Also, brush up on. Review, refresh one's memory, as in Nell brushed up on her Spanish before going to Honduras, or I'm brushing up my knowledge of town history before I speak at the club. [Late 1700s]

brush

In addition to the idioms beginning with brush

  • brush aside
  • brush off
  • brush up

also see:

  • give someone the air (brush off)
  • have a brush with
  • tarred with the same brush
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.