Brush

Brush, brush, n. an instrument for removing dust, usually made of bristles, twigs, feathers, or stiff grass stems: a kind of hair-pencil used by painters: a painter, one who uses the brush: brushwood: a skirmish or encounter: the tail of a fox: (elect.) a brush-like discharge of sparks: one of the bundles of copper wires or flexible strips in contact with the commutator of the armature on opposite sides, and which carry off the positive and negative currents of electricity generated.—v.t. to remove dust, &c., from by sweeping: to touch lightly in passing: remove (with off): to thrash.—v.i. to move over lightly: to make off with a rush.—n. Brush′ing, the act of rubbing or sweeping.—adj. in a lively manner: brisk.—ns. Brush′-wheel, a wheel used in light machinery to turn another by having the rubbing surface covered with stiff hairs or bristles; Brush′wood, rough close bushes: a thicket.—adj. Brush′y, rough, rugged.—To brush up, to brighten, revive. [O. Fr. brosse, a brush, brushwood—Low L. bruscia; Diez connects the Fr. with Old High Ger. burst, bursta, bristle.]