English Explanatory Dictionary

brush

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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. The act of brushing something.
  3. A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
  4. A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.
  5. Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland.
  6. A short, possibly recurrent encounter or experience.
  7. The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
  8. A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
  9. A short contest, or trial, of speed.
  10. An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
  11. An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
  12. A set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality.
verb
  1. To clean with a brush.
  2. To untangle or arrange with a brush.
  3. To apply with a brush.
  4. To remove with a sweeping motion.
  5. To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.
  6. To clean one's teeth by brushing them.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

brŭsh /bɹʌʃ/ brĕsh /bɹɛʃ/ En-us-brush.ogg

Word forms

brush brushes brushing brushed

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥stís Proto-Germanic *burstiz Frankish *burstibor. Vulgar Latin *brustia Old French broissebor. Middle English brusshe English brush From Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse), from Vulgar Latin *brustia, from Frankish *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (“bristle”), or also Vulgar Latin *bruscia, from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz (“tuft, thicket, underbrush”), which could be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrusgo-.

Synonyms

corposant

Related words

broom comb

Derived words

airbrush air-brush air brush antelope brush as daft as a brush badgerbrush bath-brush beard brush beebrush bitterbrush bog brush bottle brush bottlebrush bristle brush broad-brush broad brush brushability brush away brushbar brush blade brush border brushbot brush bow brush bronzewing brush coral brush cuckoo brush cut brushcutter brush-down brush fence brushfinch brush-fire brushfire brush fire brush-footed butterfly brushful brush-furred mouse brush hook brushland brushless brushlike brushmaker brushmaking brush-making brushman brushmark brush one's teeth brush past brush pen brush-pen brushproof brush rabbit brush something under the rug brushstroke brushtail brush-tailed brush-tailed mouse brush-tailed penguin brush-tailed phascogale brush-tailed porcupine
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