brush

plural brushes

1. countableuncountableAn 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. countableuncountableThe act of brushing something.

   She gave her hair a quick brush.

   1 more example

   as leaves Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush Fell from their boughs

   c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 92

3. countableuncountableA piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
4. countableuncountableA brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.

   If there was a sharp point nearby, electricity would stream from it in a luminous brush, a little corposant, and one could blow out candles with the outstreaming “electric wind,” or even get this to turn a little rotor on its pivot.

   2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

   Synonyms: corposant

5. uncountableWild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland.

   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.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion

   1 more example

   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.

   1906, Jack London, Before Adam, chapter 12

6. countableuncountableA short, possibly recurrent encounter or experience.

   brush with death

   3 more examples

   He has had brushes with communism from time to time.

   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.

   2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems'”, in The Guardian

   He fell seriously ill at 21 with pneumonia and doctors feared for his life. Three cysts were found on his right lung and part of it was removed in a brutal operation. The brush with death strengthened his determination to become a priest and he entered a Jesuit seminary soon afterwards.

   2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian

7. countableuncountableThe furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.

   it is curious to remark that a fox, when pleased, expresses his pleasure by wagging his brush, as a dog wags his tail.

   1866, Francis Trevelyan Buckland, Curiosities of Natural History

   2 more examples

   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.

   1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC

   We terrified the mare and foal; The fox stood still and far too bold - So we strung him up, brush neatly folded Mayhem, maybe.

   1988, “Mayhem Maybe”, in Ian Anderson (music), 20 Years of Jethro Tull, performed by Jethro Tull

8. countableuncountablebiologyA tuft of hair on the mandibles.
9. archaiccountableuncountableA 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.

   1 more example

   […] got into a brush with a fast British cutter as they approached Cowes […]

   1950, Think, volumes 16-17, page 34

10. countableuncountableentertainmentAn instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
11. countableuncountablecomputer graphicsAn on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.

    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[…].

    2007, Lee Lanier, Maya Professional Tips and Techniques, page 12

12. countableuncountablecomputer graphicsA set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality.

    to download brushes for Photoshop

13. countableuncountablevideo gamesIn 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
14. countableslanguncountablecard gamesThe floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
15. uncountableNorth WisconsinEvergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths.

present singular third person brushes · participle present brushing · participle past brushed · past brushed

1. transitiveTo clean with a brush.

   Brush your teeth.

2. transitiveTo untangle or arrange with a brush.

   Brush your hair.

3. transitiveTo apply with a brush.

   I am brushing the paint onto the walls.

4. transitiveTo remove with a sweeping motion.

   She brushed the flour off my clothes.

   1 more example

   Caliban: As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd / With raven's feather from unwholesome fen / Drop on you both![…]

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

5. ambitransitiveTo touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.

   Her scarf brushed his skin.

   3 more examples

   Some spread their sails, some with strong oars sweep / The waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.

   1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC

   Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings.

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   Maybe you will find a love that you discover accidentally, who falls against you gently as a pickpocket brushes your thigh.

   1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Further to Fly”, in The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.

6. intransitiveTo clean one's teeth by brushing them.

   Of course, Halloween does not have to be completely treatless. Plain chocolate candy is okay, provided you remember to brush afterwards.

   2000, USA Today, volume 129, numbers 2662-2673, page 92

plural Brushes

1. A surname.