Brush vs. Bush — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on October 24, 2023
A brush is an implement with bristles or a small, dense area of shrubbery, while a bush is a woody plant smaller than a tree but larger than a shrub.
Difference Between Brush and Bush
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Brush and bush are both associated with vegetation, but they hold different connotations. Brush can refer to an area of dense vegetation or shrubbery, often characterized by tangled, thick growth. Meanwhile, bush typically describes a singular woody plant that stands taller than a shrub but smaller than a tree.
Beyond the realm of vegetation, brush also refers to a tool with bristles, commonly used for painting, grooming, or cleaning. On the other hand, bush remains consistent in its botanical context, making no leap to the world of tools or implements.
The environment can influence the density of the brush, with areas prone to drought or fires often having thick brush that poses challenges for wildlife and humans alike. Contrarily, a bush stands as an individual plant, with varieties like the rose bush or blueberry bush offering beauty or produce.
In literature or everyday speech, "a brush with danger" implies a close encounter, while navigating "through the bush" might suggest exploring the wilderness. Such idiomatic uses further demonstrate the versatility of the word brush compared to the more consistent meaning of bush.
While both brush and bush connect to the plant kingdom, their usage and meanings diverge. It's essential to distinguish between a thick, tangled mass of shrubbery (brush) and an individual woody plant (bush) when communicating to ensure clarity.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A tool with bristles or dense vegetation
A woody plant smaller than a tree
Use in context
Can refer to tools or vegetation
Typically refers only to vegetation
Size/Structure
Can be an area or a tool
Singular plant
Idiomatic usage
"A brush with danger" or "dense brush"
"Beating around the bush" or "a rose bush"
Common scenarios
Painting with a brush or walking through the brush
Planting a bush or referring to a type of bush
Compare with Definitions
Brush
A tool with a handle and bristles used for painting, grooming, or cleaning.
She used a brush to apply her makeup.
Bush
A woody plant that is smaller than a tree but larger than a shrub.
The rose bush bloomed beautifully in spring.
Brush
Dense, tangled shrubbery or vegetation.
We hiked through the brush to reach the clearing.
Bush
A part of a vehicle providing cushioned support or reducing friction.
The car's suspension needed a new bush.
Brush
A brief encounter or experience.
He had a close brush with danger on his last adventure.
Bush
An informal term for rural, undeveloped land or country areas.
He grew up in the Australian bush.
Brush
An act of sweeping or touching lightly.
With a brush of her hand, she moved the stray hair from her face.
Bush
A shrub or clump of shrubs with stems of moderate length
A rose bush
Brush
A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped during use.
Bush
(especially in Australia and Africa) wild or uncultivated country
They have to spend a night camping in the bush
Brush
An implement with a handle and a block of bristles, hair, or wire, used especially for cleaning, applying a liquid or powder to a surface, or arranging the hair
A shaving brush
Bush
A luxuriant growth of thick hair or fur
A childish face with a bush of bright hair
Brush
A light and fleeting touch
The lightest brush of his lips against her cheek
Bush
A metal lining for a round hole, especially one in which an axle revolves.
Brush
The bushy tail of a fox.
Bush
A sleeve that protects an electric cable where it passes through a panel.
Brush
A drumstick with long wire bristles, used to make a soft hissing sound on drums or cymbals.
Bush
Spread out into a thick clump
Her hair bushed out like a halo
Brush
A piece of carbon or metal serving as an electrical contact with a moving part in a motor or alternator.
Bush
A low shrub with many branches.
Brush
Girls or women regarded sexually
‘Beer first, brush later.’
Bush
A thick growth of shrubs; a thicket.
Brush
Undergrowth, small trees, and shrubs.
Bush
Land covered with dense vegetation or undergrowth.
Brush
Remove (dust or dirt) by sweeping or scrubbing
We'll be able to brush the mud off easily
Bush
Land remote from settlement
The Australian bush.
Brush
Touch lightly and gently
Stems of grass brush against her legs
Their fingers brushed as she took the glass from him
Bush
A shaggy mass, as of hair.
Brush
An implement typically consisting of bristles fastened into a handle, used in scrubbing, polishing, grooming, or applying a liquid.
Bush
Vulgar Slang A growth of pubic hair.
Brush
The act of using this implement.
Bush
A fox's tail.
Brush
A sweeping stroke of the hand, as in removing something.
Bush
(Archaic) A clump of ivy hung outside a tavern to indicate the availability of wine inside.
Brush
A light touch in passing; a graze.
Bush
(Obsolete) A tavern.
Brush
An instance of contact with something undesirable or dangerous
A brush with the law.
A brush with death.
Bush
To grow or branch out like a bush.
Brush
A bushy tail
The brush of a fox.
Bush
To extend in a bushy growth.
Brush
A sliding connection completing a circuit between a fixed and a moving conductor.
Bush
To decorate, protect, or support with bushes.
Brush
A snub; a brushoff.
Bush
To furnish or line with a bushing.
Brush
Dense vegetation consisting of shrubs or small trees.
Bush
(Slang) Bush-league; second-rate
"Reviewers here have tended to see in him a kind of bush D.H. Lawrence" (Saturday Review).
Brush
Land covered by such a growth.
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
Cut or broken branches.
Bush
A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.
Bushes to support pea vines
Brush
To clean, polish, or groom with a brush
Brush one's teeth.
Brush the dog's coat.
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
To apply with a brush
Brushed shellac onto the wood.
Bush
A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.
Brush
To remove with a brush or with sweeping strokes
Brushed dirt from his pants.
Bush
(hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox.
Brush
To touch lightly in passing; graze against.
Bush
(archaic) A tavern or wine merchant.
Brush
To use a brush.
Bush
(often with "the") Tracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largely undeveloped and uncultivated.
Brush
To make sweeping strokes with the hand.
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
To touch something lightly in moving past.
Bush
(New Zealand) An area of New Zealand covered in forest, especially native forest.
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
(Canadian) The wild forested areas of Canada; upcountry.
Brush
The act of brushing something.
She gave her hair a quick brush.
Bush
(Canadian) A woodlot or bluff on a farm.
Brush
A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
Bush
(baseball) Amateurish behavior, short for "bush league behavior"
Brush
A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.
Bush
A thick washer or hollow cylinder of metal.
Brush
(uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland.
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
A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.
He has had brushes with communism from time to time.
Bush
A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored.
Brush
The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
Bush
(intransitive) To branch thickly in the manner of a bush.
Brush
(zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
Bush
To set bushes for; to support with bushes.
To bush peas
Brush
(archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
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
(music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
Bush
To become bushy (often used with up).
I can tell when my cat is upset because he'll bush up his tail.
Brush
(computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
Bush
(transitive) To furnish with a bush or lining; to line.
To bush a pivot hole
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
(Australia) Towards the direction of the outback.
On hatching, the chicks scramble to the surface and head bush on their own.
Brush
(video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
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
The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
Bush
A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest.
Brush
Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths.
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
(transitive) To clean with a brush.
Brush your teeth.
Bush
A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines.
Brush
(transitive) To untangle or arrange with a brush.
Brush your hair.
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
(transitive) To apply with a brush.
I am brushing the paint onto the walls.
Bush
The tail, or brush, of a fox.
Brush
(transitive) To remove with a sweeping motion.
'She brushes the flour off your clothes.
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
(ambitransitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.
Her scarf brushed his skin.
Bush
A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored.
Brush
(intransitive) To clean one's teeth by brushing them.
Bush
To branch thickly in the manner of a bush.
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
To set bushes for; to support with bushes; as, to bush peas.
Brush
The bushy tail of a fox.
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 tuft of hair on the mandibles.
Bush
To furnish with a bush, or lining; as, to bush a pivot hole.
Brush
Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood.
Bush
A low woody perennial plant usually having several major branches
Brush
A thicket of shrubs or small trees; the shrubs and small trees in a wood; underbrush.
Bush
A large wilderness area
Brush
Land covered with brush{5}; in Australia, a dense growth of vegetation in good soil, including shrubs and trees, mostly small.
Bush
Dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes
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
43rd President of the United States; son of George Herbert Walker Bush (born in 1946)
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
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
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
Vice President under Reagan and 41st President of the United States (born in 1924)
Brush
A short contest, or trial, of speed.
Let us enjoy a brush across the country.
Bush
Hair growing in the pubic area
Brush
To apply a brush to, according to its particular use; to rub, smooth, clean, paint, etc., with a brush.
Bush
Provide with a bushing
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
Not of the highest quality or sophistication
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
Wild or uncultivated country.
They camped out in the bush for a week.
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
A thick, dense growth of shrubs.
Birds often nest within the bush for protection.
Brush
A dense growth of bushes
Brush
An implement that has hairs or bristles firmly set into a handle
Brush
Momentary contact
Brush
Conducts current between rotating and stationary parts of a generator or motor
Brush
A minor short-term fight
Brush
The act of brushing your teeth;
The dentist recommended two brushes a day
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
The act of brushing or the application of something using a brush.
A quick brush of paint refreshed the old chair.
Common Curiosities
Can brush mean something other than vegetation?
Yes, brush can also refer to a tool with bristles.
Is a bush the same as a tree?
No, a bush is smaller than a tree but larger than a shrub.
What does "a brush with danger" mean?
It implies a close or narrow escape from a perilous situation.
What's the primary difference between brush and bush in a botanical context?
Brush refers to dense vegetation or shrubbery, while bush is a singular woody plant.
Can bush be used outside of a botanical context?
Yes, bush can refer to undeveloped or rural areas, especially in countries like Australia.
Is a paintbrush an example of brush?
Yes, a paintbrush is a type of brush used for painting.
What material is commonly used for brush bristles?
Bristles can be made of synthetic fibers, natural hair, or plant fibers.
Can brush refer to the action of using the tool?
Yes, as in "brush your hair" or "brush on some paint."
Is "beating around the bush" an idiomatic expression?
Yes, it means to avoid speaking about a particular topic directly.
What kind of plant is a blueberry bush?
A blueberry bush is a type of bush that produces blueberries.
Is a bush typically found in dense vegetation?
A bush can be found standalone or within dense vegetation like the brush.
Can brush refer to a fleeting experience?
Yes, as in having "a brush with fame."
Does the bush in "bush plane" refer to the plant?
No, in "bush plane," bush refers to remote, undeveloped areas the plane is designed to access.
Can a bush be fruit-bearing?
Yes, like a blueberry bush or a raspberry bush.
Which word, brush or bush, has more diverse meanings?
Brush has more diverse meanings, ranging from tools to experiences.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
