brush

English Online Dictionary. What means brush‎? What does brush mean?

English

Etymology

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-.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: brŭsh, IPA^(key): /bɹʌʃ/
• (dialectal, obsolete) enPR: brĕsh, IPA^(key): /bɹɛʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Noun

brush (countable and uncountable, plural brushes)

2. 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.
3. The act of brushing something.
4. A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
5. A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.

   Synonym: corposant
7. (uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland.
   • 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.
8. A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.

   brush with death
9. The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
10. (zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
11. (archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
    • 1860, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage (originally published in Cornhill Magazine

      Mark and Lord Lufton had been boys together, and his lordship knew that Mark in his heart would enjoy a brush across the country quite as well as he himself.

12. (music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
13. (computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
14. (computer graphics) A set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality.

    Coordinate term: texture

15. (video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
16. (poker, slang) The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
17. (North Wisconsin, uncountable) Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths.

Derived terms

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.

2. (transitive) To untangle or arrange with a brush.

3. (transitive) To apply with a brush.

4. (transitive) To remove with a sweeping motion.
5. (ambitransitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.
6. (intransitive) To clean one's teeth by brushing them.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• broom
• comb

References

Further reading

• brush on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• brush (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Shrub, bruhs, burhs, shrub

Middle English

Noun

brush

1. alternative form of broche

Swedish

Alternative forms

• brosh
• broshan
• brushan

Noun

brush

1. (slang) bro (as a term of address)

   Synonym: bror

References

• Slangopedia