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brush 1 (brŭsh)
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n.
1.
a. An implement typically consisting of bristles fastened into a handle, used in scrubbing, polishing, grooming, or applying a liquid.
b. The act of using this implement.
2.
a. A sweeping stroke of the hand, as in removing something.
b. A light touch in passing; a graze.
c. An instance of contact with something undesirable or dangerous: a brush with the law; a brush with death.
3. A bushy tail: the brush of a fox.
4. A sliding connection completing a circuit between a fixed and a moving conductor.
5. A snub; a brushoff.
v. brushed, brush·ing, brush·es
v.tr.
1.
a. To clean, polish, or groom with a brush: brush one's teeth; brush the dog's coat.
b. To apply with a brush: brushed shellac onto the wood.
c. To remove with a brush or with sweeping strokes: brushed dirt from his pants.
2. To touch lightly in passing; graze against.
v.intr.
1. To use a brush.
2. To make sweeping strokes with the hand.
3. To touch something lightly in moving past.
Phrasal Verbs:
brush aside/off
To dismiss abruptly or curtly: brushed the matter aside; brushed an old friend off.
brush back Baseball
To force (a batter) to move away from the plate by throwing an inside pitch.
brush up
To refresh one's memory or renew one's skill regarding (something).

[Middle English brushe, twigs used as a broom or a brush to clean, painter's brush, from Old French brosse, brushwood, brush; see BRUSH2.]

brusher n.
brushy adj.

Synonyms: brush1, glance1, graze2, shave, skim
These verbs mean to make light contact with something in passing: Her arm brushed mine. His fist glanced his opponent's chin. The keel grazed bottom in the shallow water. The front tire shaved the curb. The oars skimmed the pond's surface.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.