Idioms for brush

    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)

OTHER WORDS FROM brush

brush·a·ble, adjective brush·er, noun brush·like, adjective un·brush·a·ble, adjective

Definition for brush (2 of 3)

brush 2
[ bruhsh ]
/ brʌʃ /

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

OTHER WORDS FROM brush

brush·i·ness, noun

Definition for brush (3 of 3)

Brush
[ bruhsh ]
/ brʌʃ /

noun

Katharine,1902–52, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.

Example sentences from the Web for brush

British Dictionary definitions for brush (1 of 2)

brush 1
/ (brʌʃ) /

noun

verb

Derived forms of brush

brusher, noun brushlike, adjective

Word Origin for brush

C14: from Old French broisse, perhaps from broce brush ²

British Dictionary definitions for brush (2 of 2)

brush 2
/ (brʌʃ) /

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

Idioms and Phrases with brush

brush