A brush is a tool with many hairs, bristles, or wires fixed to a handle, used for cleaning, painting, or grooming. As a verb, it means to clean, touch, or lightly pass over something with a brush.
From Old French “brosse,” meaning “brush,” likely from Latin “bruscia,” meaning “sprig or branch used as a brush.” Early brushes were made from bundles of twigs or plant fibers.
The first brushes were basically tied-up twigs, so the word originally pointed to small branches. Modern brushes—plastic, metal, or animal hair—still keep that ancient idea of many tiny “twigs” working together.
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