What does "brush" mean?

Brush has multiple meanings as both noun and verb, depending on context. As a noun, a brush most commonly means a tool with a handle and bristles, wires, or fibers used for cleaning, sweeping, painting, or grooming, such as toothbrush, hairbrush, paintbrush, or scrub brush. It can also mean dense woody vegetation, shrubs, and undergrowth, as in brushland or underbrush, referring to thickets of small trees and shrubs. As a verb, to brush means to clean, sweep, or groom with a brush, to apply paint with a brush, or to touch lightly in passing, as in she brushed against me. It can also mean to dismiss or ignore, as in brush off. In other contexts, brush means a brief encounter or confrontation, as in brush with the law. In art, brush means a stroke or technique with a paintbrush. In electrical engineering, a brush is a component in motors that conducts current. So brush is a versatile word whose core idea involves bristles or light contact, used for tools, vegetation, light touch, or dismissal, with meaning determined by context such as cleaning, art, landscape, or social interaction.