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Webster 1913 Edition

Brush

Brush

(brŭsh)
,
Noun.
[OE.
brusche
, OF.
broche
,
broce
,
brosse
, brushwood, F.
brosse
brush, LL.
brustia
,
bruscia
, fr. OHG.
brusta
,
brust
, bristle, G.
borste
bristle,
bürste
brush. See
Bristle
,
Noun.
, and cf.
Browse
.]
1.
An instrument composed of bristles, or other like material, set in a suitable back or handle, as of wood, bone, or ivory, and used for various purposes, as in removing dust from clothes, laying on colors, etc.
Brushes
have different shapes and names according to their use;
as, clothes
brush
, paint
brush
, tooth
brush
, etc.
2.
The bushy tail of a fox.
3.
(Zool.)
A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
4.
Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood.
5.
A thicket of shrubs or small trees; the shrubs and small trees in a wood; underbrush.
7.
(Elec.)
A bundle of flexible wires or thin plates of metal, used to conduct an electrical current to or from the commutator of a dynamo, electric motor, or similar apparatus.
8.
The act of brushing;
as, to give one’s clothes a
brush
; a rubbing or grazing with a quick motion; a light touch;
as, we got a
brush
from the wheel as it passed
.
[As leaves] have with one winter's
brush

Fell from their boughts.
Shakespeare
9.
A skirmish; a slight encounter; a shock or collision;
as, to have a
brush
with an enemy; a
brush
with the law
.
Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong,
And tempt not yet the
brushes
of the war.
Shakespeare
10.
A short contest, or trial, of speed.
Let us enjoy a
brush
across the country.
Cornhill Mag.
Electrical brush
,
a form of the electric discharge characterized by a brushlike appearance of luminous rays diverging from an electrified body.

Brush

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Brushed
(brŭsht)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Brushing
.]
[OE.
bruschen
; cf. F.
brosser
. See
Brush
,
Noun.
]
1.
To apply a brush to, according to its particular use; to rub, smooth, clean, paint, etc., with a brush.
“A' brushes his hat o' mornings.”
Shak.
2.
To touch in passing, or to pass lightly over, as with a brush.
Some spread their sailes, some with strong oars sweep
The waters smooth, and
brush
the buxom wave.
Fairfax.
Brushed
with the kiss of rustling wings.
Milton.
3.
To remove or gather by brushing, or by an act like that of brushing, or by passing lightly over, as wind; – commonly with off.
As wicked dew as e'er my mother
brushed

With raven's feather from unwholesome fen.
Shakespeare
And from the boughts
brush
off the evil dew.
Milton.
To brush aside
,
to remove from one's way, as with a brush.
–
To brush away
,
to remove, as with a brush or brushing motion.
–
To brush up
,
to paint, or make clean or bright with a brush; to cleanse or improve; to renew.
You have commissioned me to paint your shop, and I have done my best to
brush
you
up
like your neighbors.
Pope.

Brush

,
Verb.
I.
To move nimbly in haste; to move so lightly as scarcely to be perceived;
as, to
brush
by
.
Snatching his hat, he
brushed
off like the wind.
Goldsmith.

Webster 1828 Edition

Brush

BRUSH

, n.
1.
An instrument for cleaning any thing of dust and dirt by light rubbing, as floors, furniture, boots, &c. Brushes originally were made of shrubs or small branches of trees tied together, and such are yet used for coarse purposes. But the materials most used are bristles set in wood. Painters use a small brush to lay colors on their large pieces. Silversmiths use a wire brush for scrubbing silver, copper or brass, in order to gilding; and there is a method of staining leather by rubbing the color on the skin with a brush.
2.
Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood; a sense common in the U. States.
3.
The small trees and shrubs of a wood; or a thicket of small trees.
4.
A skirmish; a slight encounter; also, an assault; a shock, or rude treatment, from collision; as we say a scouring, a rub.
5.
In electricity, the luminous appearance of electric matter issuing in diverging rays from a point.
6.
A tail; as the brush of a fox.

BRUSH

,
Verb.
T.
To sweep or rub with a brush; as, to brush a hat.
1.
To strike as with a brush; to strike lightly, by passing over the surface, without injury, or impression; as, to brush the arm in passing; to brush the briny flood.
2.
To paint with a brush; hence, to brush up is often used for cleansing in general.
3.
With off, to remove by brushing, as to brush off dust; also, to carry away by an act like that of brushing, or by passing over lightly, as by wind.
4.
To move as a brush; to pass over with a light contact.

BRUSH

,
Verb.
I.
To move nimbly in haste; to move so lightly as scarcely to be perceived; as, to brush by.
1.
To move or skim over,with a slight contact, or without much impression.

Definition 2024

brush

brush

English

Two kinds of brushes

Noun

brush ‎(plural brushes)

  1. An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.
  2. A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
  3. The act of brushing something.
    She gave her hair a quick brush.‎
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      [As leaves] have with one winter's brush / Fell from their boughs.
  4. (uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees (Wikipedia).
    • 1906, Jack London, Before Adam, chapter 12:
      We broke away toward the north, the tribe howling on our track. Across the open spaces we gained, and in the brush they caught up with us, and more than once it was nip and tuck.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
      One typical Grecian kiln engorged one thousand muleloads of juniper wood in a single burn. Fifty such kilns would devour six thousand metric tons of trees and brush annually.
  5. A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.
    He has had brushes with communism from time to time.‎
    • 2013, Russell Brand, Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems', The Guardian, 13 September:
      The usual visual grammar was in place – a carpet in the street, people in paddocks awaiting a brush with something glamorous, blokes with earpieces, birds in frocks of colliding colours that if sighted in nature would indicate the presence of poison.
  6. The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
      They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
  7. (zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
  8. (archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
    • Cornhill Magazine
      Let us enjoy a brush across the country.
  9. (music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
  10. (computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
    • 2007, Lee Lanier, Maya Professional Tips and Techniques, p.12:
      Your bitmap image appears along the painted stroke. If you'd like to permanently create a custom sprite brush, it's fairly easy to adapt an existing MEL file […].
  11. (video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
  12. (poker, slang) The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
  13. (North Wisconsin, uncountable) Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in wreathmaking.

Translations

Verb

brush ‎(third-person singular simple present brushes, present participle brushing, simple past and past participle brushed)

  1. (transitive) To clean with a brush.
    Brush your teeth.
  2. (transitive) To untangle or arrange with a brush.
    Brush your hair.
  3. (transitive) To apply with a brush.
    Brush the paint onto the walls.
  4. (transitive) To remove with a sweeping motion.
    Brush the flour off your clothes.
    • William Shakespeare
      As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed / With raven's feather from unwholesome fen.
  5. (transitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.
    Her scarf brushed his skin.
    • Fairfax
      Some spread their sails, some with strong oars sweep / The waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.
    • John Milton
      Brushed with the kiss of rustling wings.
    • 1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Further to Fly”, The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.
      Maybe you will find a love that you discover accidentally, who falls against you gently as a pickpocket brushes your thigh.
  6. (intransitive) To clean one's teeth by brushing them.
    • 2000, USA Today (volume 129, issues 2662-2673, page 92)
      Of course, Halloween does not have to be completely treatless. Plain chocolate candy is okay, provided you remember to brush afterwards.

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (compare Modern French brosse) from Vulgar Latin *bruscia from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz ‎(“underbrush; thicket”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- ‎(“to swell, sprout”). Akin to Old High German brusk, brusc ("bud, sprout, sapling"; > German Brüsch ‎(“broom, brushwood”)), Norwegian brusk ‎(“thicket, scrub, bosk”), Middle High German bürste ‎(“brush”), Walloon brouxhe ‎(“brush”), Old English byrst ‎(“bristle”), Middle High German broz ‎(“a bud, shoot”), Old English brēost ‎(“breast”), Proto-Slavic *bъrščь ‎(“hogweed”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɹʌʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃ

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