bush

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See also:Bush

English

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EnglishWikipediahas an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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A bush (woody plant)

FromMiddle Englishbush,fromOld Englishbusċ,*bysċ(“copse, grove, scrub”,in placenames),fromProto-West Germanic*busk,fromProto-Germanic*buskaz(“bush, thicket”),probably fromProto-Indo-European*bʰuH-(“to grow”).

Cognate withWest Frisianbosk(“forest”),Dutchbos(“forest”),GermanBusch(“bush”),DanishandNorwegianbusk(“bush, shrub”),Swedishbuske(“bush, shrub”),Persianبیشه(bêša/biše,“woods”).Latin and Romance forms (Latinboscus,Occitanbòsc,Frenchbois,bûcheandbuisson,Italianboscoandboscaglia,Spanishbosque,Portuguesebosque) derive from the Germanic. The sense 'pubic hair' was first attested in 1745.

Noun

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bush(pluralbushes)

  1. (horticulture)Awoodyplantdistinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall;ahorticulturalrather than strictlybotanicalcategory.
    Synonym:shrub
    • 1913,Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln,chapter I, inMr. Pratt’s Patients,New York, N.Y., London:D[aniel] Appleton and Company,→OCLC:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberrybushes.Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  2. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.
    bushesto support pea vines
  3. (historical)A shrub or branch, properly, a branch ofivy(sacred toBacchus), hung out atvintners' doors, or as atavernsign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
  4. (slang,vulgar)A person'spubic hair,especiallya woman's.
    Synonyms:seeThesaurus:pubic hair
    • 1749,[John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”,inMemoirs of a Woman of Pleasure[Fanny Hill], London:[…][Thomas Parker]for G. Fenton [i.e.,Fenton andRalph Griffiths][…],→OCLC:
      As he stood on one side, unbuttoning his waistcoat and breeches, her fat brawny thighs hung down, and the whole greasy landscape lay fairly open to my view; a wide open mouthed gap, overshaded with a grizzlybush,seemed held out like a beggar′s wallet for its provision.
    • 1941,Henry Miller,Under the Roofs of Paris (Opus Pistorum),New York: Grove Press, published1983,page27:
      I rub herbushwith my cheek and my chin, tickle her bonne-bouche with my tongue.
    • 1982,Lawrence Durrell,Constance(Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published2004,page787:
      But no, the little pool of semen was there, proof positive, with droplets caught hanging in herbush.
    • 2002,“The Seed (2.0)”, inPhrenology,performed byThe Roots:
      I push my seed in herbushfor life / It's gonna work because I'm pushing it right
  5. (hunting)Thetail,orbrush,of afox.
Derived terms
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Terms derived frombush(Etymology 1)
Translations
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Verb

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bush(third-person singular simple presentbushes,present participlebushing,simple past and past participlebushed)

  1. (intransitive)Tobranchthickly in the manner of a bush.
    • 1726,Homer,“The Odyssey”,inAlexander Pope,transl., edited by Samuel Johnson,The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Esq.,published1839,page404:
      Around it, and above, for ever green, / Thebushingalders form'd a shady scene.
  2. To set bushes for; to support with bushes.
    tobushpeas
  3. To use abush harrowon (land), for covering seeds sown; toharrowwith a bush.
    tobusha piece of land; tobushseeds into the ground
  4. To become bushy (often used withup).
    I can tell when my cat is upset because he’ll bush up his tail.

Etymology 2

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From the sign of a bush usually employed to indicate such places.

Noun

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bush(pluralbushes)

  1. (archaic)Atavernorwinemerchant.
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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From olderDutchbosch(modernbos(“wood, forest”)), first appearing in the Dutch colonies to designate an uncleared district of a colony, and thence adopted in British colonies asbush.Could alternatively be interpreted as a semantic loan, asbush(etymology 1) is cognate to the aforementioned archaic Dutchbosch.

Noun

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bush(countableanduncountable,pluralbushes)

  1. (often with "the")Tracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largelyundevelopedanduncultivated.
    2. (Australia)Thecountrysidearea ofAustraliathat is lessaridand lessremotethan theoutback;loosely,areas of natural flora even withinconurbations.
      • 1894,Henry Lawson,“We Called Him “Ally” for Short”, inShort Stories in Prose and Verse‎[1]:
        I remember, about five years ago, I was greatly annoyed by a ghost, while doing a job of fencing in thebushbetween here and Perth.
      • 1899,Ethel C. Pedley,Dot and the Kangaroo‎[2]:
        Little Dot had lost her way in thebush.
      • 2000,Robert Holden, Paul Cliff, Jack Bedson,The Endless Playground: Celebrating Australian Childhood,page16:
        The theme of children lost in thebushis a well-worked one in Australian art and literature.
      • 2021September 6, “Australian farmers under pressure from climate change”, inAustralian Herald‎[3]:
        The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggest Australia may have to jettison tracts of thebushunless there is a massive investment in climate-change adaptation and planning.
    3. (New Zealand)An area ofNew Zealandcovered in forest,especiallynative forest.
    4. (Canada)The wild forested areas of Canada;upcountry.
  2. (Canada)Awoodlotorbluffon a farm.
Derived terms
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Terms derived frombush(Etymology 3)
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  • bushman(not derived frombushbut separately derived from cognate Dutch)
Descendants
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  • →Dutch:bush,bushbush
Translations
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See also
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Adverb

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bush(notcomparable)

  1. (Australia)Towards the direction of theoutback.
    On hatching, the chicks scramble to the surface and headbushon their own.

Etymology 4

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Back-formationfrombush league.

Adjective

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bush(comparativemorebush,superlativemostbush)

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

Noun

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bush

  1. (baseball)Amateurish behavior, short for "bush leaguebehavior "

Etymology 5

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FromMiddle Dutchbusse(“box; wheel bushing”),fromProto-West Germanic*buhsā.More atbox.

Noun

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bush(pluralbushes)

  1. A thickwasheror hollow cylinder of metal.
  2. 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.
  3. A piece of copper, screwed into agun,through which theventholeis bored.
Synonyms
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Verb

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bush(third-person singular simple presentbushes,present participlebushing,simple past and past participlebushed)

  1. (transitive)To furnish with a bush orlining;toline.
    tobusha pivot hole

Anagrams

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Albanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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Either borrowed throughVulgar LatinfromLatinbuxus,[1]or fromProto-Indo-European*bʰuH(“to grow”)(compareDutchbos(“woods”),Englishbush).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bushm(pluralbushe,definitebushi,definite pluralbushet)

  1. (botany)boxwood(Buxus sempervirens)
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Possibly fromProto-Indo-European*bʰuH(“to grow”).

Noun

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bushm(pluralbusha,definitebushi,definite pluralbushat)

  1. amythologicalmonster
Declension
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Declension ofbush
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative bush bushi busha bushat
accusative bushin
dative bushi bushit bushave bushave
ablative bushash
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^Orel, Vladimir E.(1998) “bush”,inAlbanian Etymological Dictionary,Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill,→ISBN,page42

Aromanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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CompareRomanianbuș.

Noun

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bushm(pluralbush)orn(pluralbushi/bushe)

  1. fist

Synonyms

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Burushaski

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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bushبشنگو(bushongo)pl

  1. cat

See also

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References

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Sadaf Munshi (2015) “Word Lists”, inBurushaski Language Documentation Project‎[4].

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromOld Englishbusċ,*bysċ,fromProto-West Germanic*busk.Cognates includeMiddle Dutchbosch,busch,Middle High Germanbusch,bosch,and alsoOld Frenchbois,buisson.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bush(pluralbushes)

  1. bush(low-lying plant)

Descendants

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References

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