Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BRUSH, n. [Fr. brosse; It. brusca; Sp. brusca, bruza; probably allied to browse, W. brwys, thick, branching, from rhwys, vigor, luxuriance, or prys, brushwood. A brush is primarily sprouts, shoots.]

1. An instrument for cleaning any thing of dust and dirt by light rubbing, as floors, furniture, boots, &c. Brushes originally were made of shrubs or small branches of trees tied together, and such are yet used for coarse purposes. But the materials most used are bristles set in wood. Painters use a small brush to lay colors on their large pieces. Silversmiths use a wire-brush for scrubbing silver, copper or brass, in order to gilding; and there is a method of staining leather by rubbing the color on the skin with a brush. – Encyc.
2. Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood; a sense common in the United States.
3. The small trees and shrubs of a wood; or a thicket of small trees. – Encyc.
4. A skirmish; a slight encounter; also, an assault; a shock, or rude treatment, from collision; as we say a scouring, a rub.
5. In electricity, the luminous appearance of electric matter issuing in diverging rays from a point. – Encyc.
6. A tail; as, the brush of a fox.