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definitions

Idioms

    get the brush, to be rejected or rebuffed: She greeted Jim effusively, but I got the brush.
    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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR brush ON THESAURUS.COM
8. engagement, action, skirmish. See struggle.

brush

2
[bruhsh]

noun

a dense growth of bushes, shrubs, etc.; scrub; thicket.
a pile or covering of lopped or broken branches; brushwood.
bushes and low trees growing in thick profusion, especially close to the ground.
Also called brushland. land or an area covered with thickly growing bushes and low trees.
backwoods; a sparsely settled wooded region.

Origin of brush

2
1350–1400; Middle English brusshe < Middle French broisse, Old French broce underbrush (compare Anglo-French brousson wood, brusseie heath), perhaps < Vulgar Latin *bruscia excrescences, derivative of Latin bruscum knot or excrescence on a maple tree
Related formsbrush·i·ness, noun

Brush

[bruhsh]

noun

Katharine,1902–52, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for brush

broom, toothbrush, run-in, thicket, scrub, shave, flick, smooth, sweep, scrape, caress, skim, kiss, wash, wipe, clean, paint, whisk, mop, sweeper

Examples from the Web for brush

Contemporary Examples of brush

Historical Examples of brush

  • Brush with milk, dredge with sugar, and bake for about 1/2 hour.

    Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4

    Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

  • "There are pigments, brush, and paper," said the old artist.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Yet I hold that the true art of my craft lies as much in the furnace as in the brush.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • They saw that the brush had been cut from the ground outside the stockade, as if for battle.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

  • I had eaten all the brush in the ravine and was beginning to be lonely.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

British Dictionary definitions for brush

brush

1

noun

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
the act or an instance of brushing
a light stroke made in passing; graze
a brief encounter or contact, esp an unfriendly one; skirmish
the bushy tail of a fox, often kept as a trophy after a hunt, or of certain breeds of dog
an electric conductor, esp one made of carbon, that conveys current between stationary and rotating parts of a generator, motor, etc
a dark brush-shaped region observed when a biaxial crystal is viewed through a microscope, caused by interference between beams of polarized light

verb

(tr) to clean, polish, scrub, paint, etc, with a brush
(tr) to apply or remove with a brush or brushing movementbrush the crumbs off the table
(tr) to touch lightly and briefly
(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

a thick growth of shrubs and small trees; scrub
land covered with scrub
broken or cut branches or twigs; brushwood
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
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."

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).

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.

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

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.