- brush
- {{11}}brush (n.1) "dust-sweeper, a brush for sweeping," late 14c., also, c.1400, "brushwood, brushes;" from O.Fr. broisse (Mod.Fr. brosse) "a brush" (13c.), perhaps from V.L. *bruscia "a bunch of new shoots" (used to sweep away dust), perhaps from P.Gmc. *bruskaz "underbrush."{{12}}brush (n.2) "shrubbery," early 14c., from Anglo-Fr. bruce "brushwood," O.N.Fr. broche, O.Fr. broce "bush, thicket, undergrowth" (12c., Mod.Fr. brosse), from Gallo-Romance *brocia, perhaps from *brucus "heather," or possibly from the same source as BRUSH (Cf. brush) (n.1).{{12}}brush (v.1) late 15c., "to clean or rub (clothing) with a brush," also (mid-15c.) "to beat with a brush," from BRUSH (Cf. brush) (n.1). Related: Brushed; brushing. To brush off someone or something, "rebuff, dismiss," is from 1941.{{13}}brush (v.2) "move briskly" especially past or against something or someone, 1670s, from earlier sense (c.1400) "to hasten, rush," probably from BRUSH (Cf. brush) (n.2), on the notion of a horse, etc., passing through dense undergrowth (Cf. O.Fr. brosser "travel (through woods)," and M.E. noun brush "charge, onslaught, encounter," mid-14c.), but brush (n.1) probably has contributed something to it as well. Related: Brushed; brushing.
Etymology dictionary. 2014.