bush

plural bushes

1. agricultureA 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.

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   I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 18

   Synonyms: shrub

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

   bushes to support pea vines

3. archaicdialectalA thicket, a small wood, or a tract of uncleared, woody land.

   We saw a bush of wood, and in the heart of it a little open space.

   1894, S. R. Crockett, The Raiders

4. historicalA 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.

   If it be true, that good wine needs no buſh, 'tis true, that a good play needes no Epilogue.

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], page 207, column 2

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   "Well," replied Lady Mary, "who is to know where good wine is sold, unless you hang out the bush."

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter IV. The Fête.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 31

5. slangvulgarA person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.First known use 1745

   I think on Saturday I'm gonna find out if red-haired girls have a red bush!

   2025 September 3, “Wok Is Dead”, in South Park, season 27, episode 4, spoken by Butters

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   As he ſtood on one ſide for a minute or ſo, unbuttoning his waſte-coat, and breeches, her fat brawny thighs hung down, and the whole greaſy landſkip lay fairly open to my view: a wide open-mouth'd gap, overſhaded with a grizzly buſh, ſeemed held out like a beggar's wallet for its'^([sic]) proviſion.

   Fanny Hill

   1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 65

   I rub her bush with my cheek and my chin, tickle her bonne-bouche with my tongue.

   1941, Henry Miller, Under the Roofs of Paris (Opus Pistorum), New York: Grove Press, published 1983, page 27

   But no, the little pool of semen was there, proof positive, with droplets caught hanging in her bush.

   1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 787

   I push my seed in her bush for life / It's gonna work because I'm pushing it right

   2002, “The Seed (2.0)”, in Phrenology, performed by The Roots

   Synonyms: carpet, floss, fluff, forest, fur, fuzz, grass, growth

6. hobbiesThe tail, or brush, of a fox.

present singular third person bushes · participle present bushing · participle past bushed · past bushed

1. intransitiveTo branch thickly in the manner of a bush.

   Around it, and above, for ever green, / The bushing alders form'd a shady scene.

   1726, Homer, “The Odyssey”, in Alexander Pope, transl., edited by Samuel Johnson, The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Esq., published 1839, page 404

2. To set bushes for; to support with bushes.

   to bush peas

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

   to bush a piece of land; to bush seeds into the ground

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

   I can tell when my cat is upset because he’ll bush up his tail.

plural bushes

1. archaicA tavern or wine merchant.

plural bushes

1. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandSouth AfricacountableoftenuncountableAlaskaTracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largely undeveloped and uncultivated, typically distinguished from absolute wilderness by implying a degree of marginal human engagement or proximity to settlement edges.

   The Gentlemen took to the Bush and escaped being made prisoners.

   1779, Solomon Lovell, The Original Journal of General Solomon Lovell, Kept During the Penobscot Expedition, 1779: With a Sketch of His Life by Gilbert Nash, Weymouth, Mass.: Weymouth Historical Society, published 1881, page 102

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   Mad terror had scattered them, men, women, and children, through the bush, and they had never returned.

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199

   1. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandSouth AfricacountableoftenuncountableAlaskaThe countryside area of Australia that is less arid and less remote than the outback; loosely, areas of natural flora even within conurbations.

      Little Dot had lost her way in the bush.

      1899, Ethel C. Pedley, Dot and the Kangaroo

      4 more examples

      (Davis) my Convict Servant who was in the Boat with me begd of me not to goe on Shore he is one of the greatest Cowards living I cald to them again when I got to ther fire for the[y] had run into the bush on there Seing the Boat pulling towards them

      1790, Ralph Clark, Journal

      I remember, about five years ago, I was greatly annoyed by a ghost, while doing a job of fencing in the bush between here and Perth.

      1894, Henry Lawson, “We Called Him "Ally" for Short”, in Short Stories in Prose and Verse

      The theme of children lost in the bush is a well-worked one in Australian art and literature.

      2000, Robert Holden, Paul Cliff, Jack Bedson, The Endless Playground: Celebrating Australian Childhood, page 16

      The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggest Australia may have to jettison tracts of the bush unless there is a massive investment in climate-change adaptation and planning.

      2021 September 6, “Australian farmers under pressure from climate change”, in Australian Herald, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2021

   2. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandSouth AfricacountableoftenuncountableAlaskaAn area of New Zealand covered in forest, especially native forest.
   3. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandSouth AfricacountableoftenuncountableAlaskaThe wild forested areas of Canada; upcountry.
2. CanadacountableuncountableA wood lot or bluff on a farm.

   Synonyms: bushlot

1. Australianot comparableTowards the direction of the outback.

   On hatching, the chicks scramble to the surface and head bush on their own.

comparative more bush · superlative most bush

1. colloquialNot skilled; not professional; not major league.

   They’re supposed to be a major league team, but so far they've been bush.

1. ball gamesAmateurish behavior, short for bush league behavior

plural bushes

1. A thick washer or hollow cylinder of metal.

   Synonyms: bushing

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.

present singular third person bushes · participle present bushing · participle past bushed · past bushed

1. transitiveTo furnish with a bush or lining; to line.

   to bush a pivot hole

plural Bushes

1. countableuncountableA surname from Middle English.

   When Larissa Santos opened her front door and saw Rachel Bush for the first time, she was immediately flooded with emotions.

   2023 August 18, Francesca Street, “Her flight was canceled. Then she ended up on the doorstep of her future wife”, in CNN, archived from the original on 13 Apr 2024

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   In March 1953, a month after Jeb was born, the Bush family received the devastating news that Robin had leukemia. A local doctor told the Bushes that doctors had never seen a white blood cell count that high and there was nothing they could do for her.

   2019 March 8, Allen Kim, “What you don’t know about the Bush family dynasty”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2022

   1. countableuncountableGeorge H. W. Bush, 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

      Synonyms: Bush 41, Poppy

   2. countableuncountableGeorge W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009

      This means Gore will have to stop dancing away from the question as if the pardon decision were somehow shared with the pardonee. It's time he chose the hard right over the easy wrong answer. (For Bush, it would be an opportunity to demonstrate nonpartisan compassion on a grand scale.)

      2000 August 24, William Safire, “Essay; Pardon Me, But . . .”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 Feb 2018

      Synonyms: Bush 43, Bushinator, Bushitler, Chimperor, Chimpy, Chimpy McFlightsuit, Chimpy McHalliburton, Chimpy McHitlerburton

2. A place name:
   1. countableuncountableA village in Williamson County, Illinois, United States; from the surname.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Thurston County, Washington, United States; from the surname.
   4. countableuncountableA hamlet in Bude-Stratton parish, Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SS2307).
   5. countableuncountableA hamlet in southern Aberdeenshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NO7665).