quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- brush (v.1)




- late 15c., "to clean or rub (clothing) with a brush," also (mid-15c.) "to beat with a brush," from brush (n.1). Related: Brushed; brushing. To brush off someone or something, "rebuff, dismiss," is from 1941.
- brush (v.2)




- "move briskly" especially past or against something or someone, 1670s, from earlier sense (c. 1400) "to hasten, rush," probably from brush (n.2), on the notion of a horse, etc., passing through dense undergrowth (compare Old French brosser "travel (through woods)," and Middle English noun brush "charge, onslaught, encounter," mid-14c.), but brush (n.1) probably has contributed something to it as well. Related: Brushed; brushing.
- swish (v.)




- 1756 (intransitive); 1799 (transitive), probably imitative of the sound made by something brushing against or through something. Related: Swished; swishing.