A fast-spreading fire in shrubs and small trees, or metaphorically, a small conflict that could become a bigger problem.
Compound of 'brush' (dense shrubby vegetation) and 'fire' (combustion). First used in early 20th-century American English to describe wildfires in scrubland, later adopted as political jargon.
Firefighters call it 'brush' fire, not 'grass' fire, because the vegetation burns hotter and spreads faster—and that's why politicians borrowed the term for small scandals that could explode into major crises.
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