Word: brush Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥stís Proto-Germanic *burstiz Frankish *burstibor. Vulgar Latin *brustia Old French broissebor. Middle English brusshe English brush 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: /bɹʌʃ/, /bɹɐʃ/, /bɹʊʃ/, /bɹɛʃ/ 1. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 2. The act of brushing something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: She gave her hair a quick brush. Example: as leaves Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush Fell from their boughs 3. A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine. Labels: countable, uncountable 4. A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 5. Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland. Labels: uncountable 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. Example: 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. 6. A short, possibly recurrent encounter or experience. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: brush with death Example: He has had brushes with communism from time to time. 7. The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: We terrified the mare and foal; The fox stood still and far too bold - So we strung him up, brush neatly folded Mayhem, maybe. 8. A tuft of hair on the mandibles. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. A short contest, or trial, of speed. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: […] got into a brush with a fast British cutter as they approached Cowes […] 10. An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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[…]. 12. A set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: to download brushes for Photoshop 13. In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable 15. Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths. Labels: uncountable