bush

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

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʊʃ/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /bʉʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʊʃ

Etymology 1

From Middle English bush, from Old English busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque.

Cognate with West Frisian bosk (“forest”), Dutch bos (“forest”), German Busch (“bush”), Danish and Norwegian busk (“bush, shrub”), Swedish buske (“bush, shrub”), Persian بیشه (bêša/biše, “woods”). Latin and Romance forms (Latin boscus, Occitan bòsc, French bois, bûche and buisson, Italian bosco and boscaglia, Spanish bosque, Portuguese bosque) derive from the Germanic.

Noun

bush (plural bushes)

1. (horticulture) A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.

   Synonym: shrub
2. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.

3. (historical) A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
4. (slang, vulgar) A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's. [from 1745]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pubic hair
5. (hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

bush (third-person singular simple present bushes, present participle bushing, simple past and past participle bushed)

1. (intransitive) To branch thickly in the manner of a bush.
2. To set bushes for; to support with bushes.

3. To use a bush harrow on (land), for covering seeds sown; to harrow with a bush.

4. To become bushy (often used with up).

Etymology 2

From the sign of a bush usually employed to indicate such places.

Noun

bush (plural bushes)

1. (archaic) A tavern or wine merchant.

Derived terms

• good wine needs no bush

Etymology 3

From older Dutch bosch (modern bos (“wood, forest”)), first appearing in the Dutch colonies to designate an uncleared district of a colony, and thence adopted in British colonies as bush. Could alternatively be interpreted as a semantic loan, as bush (etymology 1) is cognate to the aforementioned archaic Dutch bosch.

Noun

bush (countable and uncountable, plural bushes)

2. (often with "the") Tracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largely undeveloped and uncultivated.
   2. (Australia) The countryside area of Australia that is less arid and less remote than the outback; loosely, areas of natural flora even within conurbations.
   3. (New Zealand) An area of New Zealand covered in forest, especially native forest.
   4. (Canada) The wild forested areas of Canada; upcountry.
3. (Canada) A wood lot or bluff on a farm.

   Synonym: bushlot

   Hyponym: sugarbush

Derived terms

Related terms

• bushman (not derived from bush but separately derived from cognate Dutch)

Descendants

• → Dutch: bush, bushbush

Translations

See also

• backblock, outback

Adverb

bush (not comparable)

1. (Australia) Towards the direction of the outback.

Etymology 4

Back-formation from bush league.

Adjective

bush (comparative more bush, superlative most bush)

1. (colloquial) Not skilled; not professional; not major league.

Noun

bush

1. (baseball) Amateurish behavior, short for bush league behavior.

Etymology 5

From Middle Dutch busse (“box; wheel bushing”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhsā. More at box.

Noun

bush (plural bushes)

1. A thick washer or hollow cylinder of metal.
2. A mechanical attachment, usually a metallic socket with a screw thread, such as the mechanism by which a camera is attached to a tripod stand.
3. A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored.

Synonyms

• (washer or cylinder): bushing

Related terms

• reducing bush

Verb

bush (third-person singular simple present bushes, present participle bushing, simple past and past participle bushed)

1. (transitive) To furnish with a bush or lining; to line.

References

Anagrams

• hubs, husb., Shub

Albanian

Alternative forms

• bushk

Etymology 1

Either borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin buxus, or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH (“to grow”) (compare Dutch bos (“woods”), English bush).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buʃ/

Noun

bush m (plural bushe, definite bushi, definite plural bushet)

1. (botany) boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)

Derived terms

• bushtë
• bushnjesh
• bushk

Etymology 2

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH (“to grow”).

Noun

bush m (plural busha, definite bushi, definite plural bushat)

1. a mythological monster

Declension

Derived terms

• bushtër

Related terms

• bisht

References

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• bushu, bushtu

Etymology

Compare Romanian buș.

Noun

bush m (plural bush) or n (plural bushi/bushe)

1. fist

Synonyms

• shub, pulmu, huftã, mãnatã

Burushaski

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [buʃ]

Noun

bush بشنگو (bushongo) pl

1. cat

See also

• gus bush
• hir bush
• bushe isko

References

Sadaf Munshi (2015) “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project‎^[4].

Middle English

Alternative forms

• buss, bosh, buish, boish, busk, bosk

Etymology

From Old English busċ, *bysċ, from Proto-West Germanic *busk. Cognates include Middle Dutch bosch, busch, Middle High German busch, bosch, and also Old French bois, buisson.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buʃ/

Noun

bush (plural bushes)

1. bush (low-lying plant)

Descendants

• English: bush
• Scots: bus
• Yola: bushe

References

• “bush, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.