Difference Wiki

Brush vs. Bush: What's the Difference?

Edited by Harlon Moss || By Janet White || Updated on October 7, 2023
A brush is a tool with bristles, while a bush is a woody shrub or small tree.

Key Differences

"Brush" and "Bush" may sound similar, but their meanings diverge considerably. A brush is primarily known as a device with bristles, wire, or hair. Whether for painting, cleaning, or grooming, brushes serve many functions. On the other hand, a bush refers to a short, woody plant that is denser than a shrub but not tall enough to be a tree.
Exploring the diverse applications of a brush, we find tools used in art, hygiene, and cleaning. Brushes assist artists in applying paint to canvases, help individuals maintain hair or dental hygiene, and aid in scrubbing surfaces clean. Conversely, a bush is a mainstay in gardens and natural landscapes, providing aesthetic appeal or sometimes bearing fruits.
The etymology of both words also offers insights. "Brush" is derived from Old French "brosse" referring to a handful of twigs, which is interesting considering its current use. "Bush," however, traces its origin to Old English "busc" and Old Norse "buskr," both implying a shrub or underwood.
While "brush" can also denote a light touch or a brief encounter, as in "a brush with danger," the word "bush" can represent wild, undeveloped country areas or wilderness. This further underscores the breadth of meanings each term holds.

Comparison Chart

Primary Definition

A tool with bristles
A woody shrub or small tree
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Use

Painting, grooming, cleaning
Landscaping, wilderness, fruit-bearing

Derived From

Old French "brosse"
Old English "busc"

Additional Meanings

A light touch or encounter
Undeveloped areas or wilderness

Physical Characteristics

Typically has a handle
Grows from the ground, has branches and leaves

Brush and Bush Definitions

Brush

Thick undergrowth or shrubs
They walked through the dense brush in the forest.
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Bush

A woody plant, smaller than a tree
The rose bush bloomed beautifully in spring.

Brush

A tool with stiff hairs or bristles
She used a brush to apply her makeup.

Bush

A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.

Brush

An implement typically consisting of bristles fastened into a handle, used in scrubbing, polishing, grooming, or applying a liquid.

Bush

A wild or uncultivated country area
They went camping in the bush for a week.

Brush

The act of using this implement.

Bush

Dense hair or fur
His thick bush of a beard stood out.

Brush

A sweeping stroke of the hand, as in removing something.

Bush

A metal lining or bushing
The motor's bush needs to be lubricated.

Brush

A light touch in passing; a graze.

Bush

A low shrub with many branches.

Brush

An instance of contact with something undesirable or dangerous
A brush with the law.
A brush with death.

Bush

A thick growth of shrubs; a thicket.

Brush

A bushy tail
The brush of a fox.

Bush

Land covered with dense vegetation or undergrowth.

Brush

A sliding connection completing a circuit between a fixed and a moving conductor.

Bush

Land remote from settlement
The Australian bush.

Brush

A snub; a brushoff.

Bush

A shaggy mass, as of hair.

Brush

Dense vegetation consisting of shrubs or small trees.

Bush

Vulgar Slang A growth of pubic hair.

Brush

Land covered by such a growth.

Bush

A fox's tail.

Brush

Cut or broken branches.

Bush

(Archaic) A clump of ivy hung outside a tavern to indicate the availability of wine inside.

Brush

To clean, polish, or groom with a brush
Brush one's teeth.
Brush the dog's coat.

Bush

(Obsolete) A tavern.

Brush

To apply with a brush
Brushed shellac onto the wood.

Bush

To grow or branch out like a bush.

Brush

To remove with a brush or with sweeping strokes
Brushed dirt from his pants.

Bush

To extend in a bushy growth.

Brush

To touch lightly in passing; graze against.

Bush

To decorate, protect, or support with bushes.

Brush

To use a brush.

Bush

To furnish or line with a bushing.

Brush

To make sweeping strokes with the hand.

Bush

(Slang) Bush-league; second-rate
"Reviewers here have tended to see in him a kind of bush D.H. Lawrence" (Saturday Review).

Brush

To touch something lightly in moving past.

Bush

(horticulture) A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.

Brush

An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.

Bush

A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.
Bushes to support pea vines

Brush

The act of brushing something.
She gave her hair a quick brush.

Bush

(historical) A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.

Brush

A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.

Bush

(hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox.

Brush

A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.

Bush

(archaic) A tavern or wine merchant.

Brush

(uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland.

Bush

(often with "the") Tracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largely undeveloped and uncultivated.

Brush

A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.
He has had brushes with communism from time to time.

Bush

(Australia) The countryside area of Australia that is less arid and less remote than the outback; loosely, areas of natural flora even within conurbations.

Brush

The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.

Bush

(New Zealand) An area of New Zealand covered in forest, especially native forest.

Brush

(zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.

Bush

(Canadian) The wild forested areas of Canada; upcountry.

Brush

(archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.

Bush

(Canadian) A woodlot or bluff on a farm.

Brush

(music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.

Bush

(baseball) Amateurish behavior, short for "bush league behavior"

Brush

(computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.

Bush

A thick washer or hollow cylinder of metal.

Brush

(computer graphics) A set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality.
Downloading brushes for Photoshop

Bush

A mechanical attachment, usually a metallic socket with a screw thread, such as the mechanism by which a camera is attached to a tripod stand.

Brush

(video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.

Bush

A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored.

Brush

The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.

Bush

(intransitive) To branch thickly in the manner of a bush.

Brush

Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths.

Bush

To set bushes for; to support with bushes.
To bush peas

Brush

(transitive) To clean with a brush.
Brush your teeth.

Bush

To use a bush harrow on (land), for covering seeds sown; to harrow with a bush.
To bush a piece of land; to bush seeds into the ground

Brush

(transitive) To untangle or arrange with a brush.
Brush your hair.

Bush

To become bushy (often used with up).
I can tell when my cat is upset because he'll bush up his tail.

Brush

(transitive) To apply with a brush.
I am brushing the paint onto the walls.

Bush

(transitive) To furnish with a bush or lining; to line.
To bush a pivot hole

Brush

(transitive) To remove with a sweeping motion.
'She brushes the flour off your clothes.

Bush

(Australia) Towards the direction of the outback.
On hatching, the chicks scramble to the surface and head bush on their own.

Brush

(ambitransitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.
Her scarf brushed his skin.

Bush

(colloquial) Not skilled; not professional; not major league.
They're supposed to be a major league team, but so far they've been bush.

Brush

(intransitive) To clean one's teeth by brushing them.

Bush

A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest.

Brush

An instrument composed of bristles, or other like material, set in a suitable back or handle, as of wood, bone, or ivory, and used for various purposes, as in removing dust from clothes, laying on colors, etc. Brushes have different shapes and names according to their use; as, clothes brush, paint brush, tooth brush, etc.

Bush

A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs.
To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers.

Brush

The bushy tail of a fox.

Bush

A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines.

Brush

A tuft of hair on the mandibles.

Bush

A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue.

Brush

Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood.

Bush

The tail, or brush, of a fox.

Brush

A thicket of shrubs or small trees; the shrubs and small trees in a wood; underbrush.

Bush

A lining for a hole to make it smaller; a thimble or ring of metal or wood inserted in a plate or other part of machinery to receive the wear of a pivot or arbor.

Brush

Land covered with brush{5}; in Australia, a dense growth of vegetation in good soil, including shrubs and trees, mostly small.

Bush

A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored.

Brush

A bundle of flexible wires or thin plates of metal, used to conduct an electrical current to or from the commutator of a dynamo, electric motor, or similar apparatus.

Bush

To branch thickly in the manner of a bush.

Brush

The act of brushing; as, to give one's clothes a brush; a rubbing or grazing with a quick motion; a light touch; as, we got a brush from the wheel as it passed.
[As leaves] have with one winter's brushFell from their boughts.

Bush

To set bushes for; to support with bushes; as, to bush peas.

Brush

A skirmish; a slight encounter; a shock or collision; as, to have a brush with an enemy; a brush with the law.
Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong,And tempt not yet the brushes of the war.

Bush

To use a bush harrow on (land), for covering seeds sown; to harrow with a bush; as, to bush a piece of land; to bush seeds into the ground.

Brush

A short contest, or trial, of speed.
Let us enjoy a brush across the country.

Bush

To furnish with a bush, or lining; as, to bush a pivot hole.

Brush

To apply a brush to, according to its particular use; to rub, smooth, clean, paint, etc., with a brush.

Bush

A low woody perennial plant usually having several major branches

Brush

To touch in passing, or to pass lightly over, as with a brush.
Some spread their sailes, some with strong oars sweepThe waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.
Brushed with the kiss of rustling wings.

Bush

A large wilderness area

Brush

To remove or gather by brushing, or by an act like that of brushing, or by passing lightly over, as wind; - commonly with off.
As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushedWith raven's feather from unwholesome fen.
And from the boughts brush off the evil dew.
You have commissioned me to paint your shop, and I have done my best to brush you up like your neighbors.

Bush

Dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes

Brush

To move nimbly in haste; to move so lightly as scarcely to be perceived; as, to brush by.
Snatching his hat, he brushed off like the wind.

Bush

43rd President of the United States; son of George Herbert Walker Bush (born in 1946)

Brush

A dense growth of bushes

Bush

United States electrical engineer who designed an early analogue computer and who led the scientific program of the United States during World War II (1890-1974)

Brush

An implement that has hairs or bristles firmly set into a handle

Bush

Vice President under Reagan and 41st President of the United States (born in 1924)

Brush

Momentary contact

Bush

Hair growing in the pubic area

Brush

Conducts current between rotating and stationary parts of a generator or motor

Bush

Provide with a bushing

Brush

A minor short-term fight

Bush

Not of the highest quality or sophistication

Brush

The act of brushing your teeth;
The dentist recommended two brushes a day

Bush

Something resembling a shrub, like a tuft
She tied her hair into a small bush at the back.

Brush

The act of brushing your hair;
He gave his hair a quick brush

Brush

Contact with something dangerous or undesirable;
I had a brush with danger on my way to work
He tried to avoid any brushes with the police

Brush

Rub with a brush, or as if with a brush;
Johnson brushed the hairs from his jacket

Brush

Touch lightly and briefly;
He brushed the wall lightly

Brush

Clean with a brush;
She brushed the suit before hanging it back into the closet

Brush

Sweep across or over;
Her long skirt brushed the floor
A gasp swept cross the audience

Brush

Remove with or as if with a brush;
Brush away the crumbs
Brush the dust from the jacket
Brush aside the objections

Brush

Cover by brushing;
Brush the bread with melted butter

Brush

A brief encounter or skirmish
He had a brush with the law in his youth.

Brush

A light touch or stroke
She felt the brush of his hand against hers.

Brush

An implement for electrical or mechanical operations
The motor's brush needs replacement.

FAQs

Can "brush" refer to vegetation?

Yes, it can denote thick undergrowth or shrubs.

Are all brushes used for painting?

No, brushes have varied uses, including grooming and cleaning.

Are brush and bush interchangeable?

No, they have distinct meanings: one's a tool, the other's a plant.

Is a bush always smaller than a tree?

Typically, yes. Bushes are denser and shorter than trees.

Do brushes always have bristles?

Most do, but the "bristles" can vary from hair to wire.

Can "bush" mean an undeveloped area?

Yes, especially in places like Australia, "bush" refers to wilderness.

Are bushes always woody?

Generally, yes. They have woody stems unlike herbaceous plants.

Can bushes bear fruits?

Yes, many bushes like blueberry and raspberry bushes bear fruits.

How is "brush" used in a mechanical context?

It can refer to a device, like a carbon brush in motors.

What's a "brush with danger"?

It's a phrase meaning a brief encounter with a dangerous situation.

Do all bushes flower?

No, but many types of bushes produce flowers.

What's the difference between a brush for hair and for teeth?

A hairbrush detangles and styles hair, while a toothbrush cleans teeth.

Can "bush" refer to hair?

Yes, in informal terms, it can mean a thick growth of hair.

What materials make brush bristles?

Bristles can be synthetic, animal hair, or even metal wires.

How do you maintain a healthy bush in a garden?

Regular watering, pruning, and pest control can help.

Are there brushes in electrical machines?

Yes, some motors use carbon brushes for electrical conduction.

Are there bushes in the desert?

Yes, some bushes are adapted to arid conditions.

Can "brush" mean a slight contact?

Yes, as in "a brush of his hand against hers."

Can "bush" be used as a verb?

Yes, in engineering, it can mean fitting with a bushing.

How are brushes used in art?

They're tools for applying paint, ink, or other mediums to surfaces.
About Author
Written by
Janet White
Janet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Harlon Moss
Harlon is a seasoned quality moderator and accomplished content writer for Difference Wiki. An alumnus of the prestigious University of California, he earned his degree in Computer Science. Leveraging his academic background, Harlon brings a meticulous and informed perspective to his work, ensuring content accuracy and excellence.

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