Brush

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /bɹʌʃ/

Definitions

1. A tool with bristles, wire, or other filaments attached to a handle, used for cleaning, grooming, painting, or applying substances
2. A device featuring bristles or fibers affixed to a handle, utilized for activities such as cleaning, grooming, painting, or the application of various materials
3. An instrument composed of bristles, wire, or similar materials on a handle, employed for purposes like cleaning, painting, or grooming

Etymology: The tool was named for what it was made of. Its earliest ancestor in English, Middle English "brusshe," came from Old French "broisse," the modern French "brosse," and that French word traces back to a Frankish term "bursti" meaning bristle. The Frankish word goes back further to a Proto-Germanic root, "burstiz," which also meant bristle, so the object was named after the stiff hairs themselves rather than the device. Before it settled on bristles, the word may have carried a different sense. Some scholars link the Germanic root to "bruskaz," meaning a tuft, thicket or underbrush, which suggests a picture of bushy, tangled growth. Those two possible sources for the Latin-era forms, "brustia" and "bruscia," give the word a shared ancestry with the sense of rough, bushy vegetation. The verb uses the same root, so writing "brush" as an action was built straight from the tool, not a separate coinage.

Synonyms: sweep, clean, groom

Antonyms: dirty, smudge