brush1
  
  n.
      - an implement with a handle and a block of bristles, hair, or wire, used for cleaning, smoothing, or painting. ▸an act of brushing. 
- a slight and fleeting touch. ▸a brief encounter with something bad or unwelcome: ![]()  a brush with death. 
- the bushy tail of a fox.
- 
(usu. brushes)
 a drumstick with long wire bristles, used to make a soft hissing sound.
- a piece of carbon or metal serving as an electrical contact with a moving part in a motor or alternator.
- Austral./NZ informal girls or women regarded sexually.
v.
    - clean, smooth, or apply with a brush.
- touch or push lightly and gently.
- 
(brush someone/thing off)
 dismiss someone or something in an abrupt, contemptuous way.
- 
(brush up on or brush something up)
 work to regain a previously learned skill.
Derivative
  
    - brushless adj. (chiefly technical).
- brushy adj.
 
  Etymology
  ME: noun from OFr. broisse; verb partly from OFr. brosser ‘to sweep’.
 
  
    
brush2
  
  n.
 chiefly N. Amer. & 
Austral./NZ undergrowth, small trees, and shrubs. 
▸N. Amer. cut brushwood.
 ▸Austral./NZ dense forest.
Etymology
  ME: from OFr. broce, perh. based on L. bruscum, denoting an excrescence on a maple.