Adjacent Words

Bush definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BUSH, n. [L. pasco, originally, to feed on sprouts.]
1. A shrub with branches; a thick shrub; also, a cluster of shrubs. With hunters, a fox tail.
2. An assemblage of branches interwoven.
3. A branch of a tree fixed or hung out as a tavern sign. Hence, since the branch has been discontinued, a coronated frame of wood hung out as a tavern sign, is so called. Hence the English proverb, "Good wine needs no bush."
[I know not that this word is thus used in the U. States.]
4. A circle of metal let into the sheaves of such blocks as have iron pins, to prevent their wearing.
This word when applied to sheaves is called bush, but when applied to the circular iron of a cart wheel is, in America, called a box.
BUSH, v.i. To grow thick or bushy.
BUSH, v.t. To furnish a block with a bush.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not of the highest quality or sophistication [syn: bush- league, bush] n
1: a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems [syn: shrub, bush]
2: a large wilderness area
3: dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes [syn: scrub, chaparral, bush]
4: 43rd President of the United States; son of George Herbert Walker Bush (born in 1946) [syn: Bush, George Bush, George W. Bush, George Walker Bush, President Bush, President George W. Bush, Dubyuh, Dubya]
5: 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) [syn: Bush, Vannevar Bush]
6: vice president under Reagan and 41st President of the United States (born in 1924) [syn: Bush, George Bush, George H.W. Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, President Bush]
7: hair growing in the pubic area [syn: pubic hair, bush, crotch hair] v
1: provide with a bushing

Merriam Webster's

I. biographical name George (Herbert Walker) 1924- American politician; 41st president of the United States (1989-93) II. biographical name George W(alker) 1946- son of preceding American politician; 43d president of the United States (2001- ) III. biographical name Vannevar 1890-1974 American electrical engineer

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English; akin to Old High German busc forest Date: 14th century 1. a. shrub; especially a low densely branched shrub b. a close thicket of shrubs suggesting a single plant 2. a large uncleared or sparsely settled area (as in Australia) usually scrub-covered or forested ; wilderness — usually used with the 3. a. archaic a bunch of ivy formerly hung outside a tavern to indicate wine for sale b. obsolete tavern c. advertising <good wine needs no bush — Shakespeare> 4. a bushy tuft or mass <a bush of hair>; especially brush II,2a 5. minor league — usually used in plural <spent ten years in the bushes> II. verb Date: 15th century transitive verb to support, mark, or protect with bushes intransitive verb to extend like a bush ; resemble a bush III. adjective Date: 1595 1. having a low-growing compact bushy habit — used especially of cultivated beans <bush snap beans> 2. serving, occurring in, or used in the bush <bush planes> IV. noun Etymology: Dutch bus bushing, box, from Middle Dutch busse box, from Late Latin buxis — more at box Date: 1566 chiefly British bushing V. adjective Etymology: short for bush-league Date: 1959 falling below acceptable standards ; unprofessional <bush behavior>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 a shrub or clump of shrubs with stems of moderate length. 2 a thing resembling this, esp. a clump of hair or fur. 3 (esp. in Australia and Africa) a wild uncultivated district; woodland or forest. 4 hist. a bunch of ivy as a vintner's sign. Phrases and idioms: bush-baby (pl. -ies) a small African tree-climbing lemur; a galago. bush basil a culinary herb, Ocimum minimum. bush jacket a light cotton jacket with a belt. bush lawyer 1 Austral. & NZ a person claiming legal knowledge without qualifications for it. 2 NZ a bramble. bush-ranger hist. an Australian outlaw living in the bush. bush sickness a disease of animals due to a lack of cobalt in the soil. bush telegraph rapid spreading of information, a rumour, etc. go bush Austral. leave one's usual surroundings; run wild. Etymology: ME f. OE & ON, ult. f. Gmc 2. n. & v. --n. 1 a metal lining for a round hole enclosing a revolving shaft etc. 2 a sleeve providing electrical insulation. --v.tr. provide with a bush. Etymology: MDu. busse BOX(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bush Bush, n. [OE. bosch, busch, buysch, bosk, busk; akin to D. bosch, OHG. busc, G. busch, Icel. b[=u]skr, b[=u]ski, Dan. busk, Sw. buske, and also to LL. boscus, buscus, Pr. bosc, It. bosco, Sp. & Pg. bosque, F. bois, OF. bos. Whether the LL. or G. form is the original is uncertain; if the LL., it is perh. from the same source as E. box a case. Cf. Ambush, Boscage, Bouquet, Box a case.] 1. A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest. Note: This was the original sense of the word, as in the Dutch bosch, a wood, and was so used by Chaucer. In this sense it is extensively used in the British colonies, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in Australia and Canada; as, to live or settle in the bush. 2. 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. --Gascoigne. 3. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines. 4. 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. --Shak. 5. (Hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox. To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting. Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1. Bush buck, or Bush goat (Zo["o]l.), a beautiful South African antelope (Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species. Bush cat (Zo["o]l.), the serval. See Serval. Bush chat (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family. Bush dog. (Zo["o]l.) See Potto. Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary. Bush harrow (Agric.) See under Harrow. Bush hog (Zo["o]l.), a South African wild hog (Potamoch[oe]rus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog. Bush master (Zo["o]l.), a venomous snake (Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu. Bush pea (Bot.), a variety of pea that needs to be bushed. Bush shrike (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America. Bush tit (Zo["o]l.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. P. minimus inhabits California.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bush Bush, v. i. To branch thickly in the manner of a bush. ``The bushing alders.'' --Pope.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bush Bush, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bushed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bushing.] 1. To set bushes for; to support with bushes; as, to bush peas. 2. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bush Bush, n. [D. bus a box, akin to E. box; or F. boucher to plug.] 1. (Mech.) 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. --Knight. Note: In the larger machines, such a piece is called a box, particularly in the United States. 2. (Gun.) A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored. --Farrow.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bushes) 1. A bush is a large plant which is smaller than a tree and has a lot of branches. Trees and bushes grew down to the water's edge. = shrub N-COUNT 2. The wild, uncultivated parts of some hot countries are referred to as the bush. They walked through the dense Mozambican bush for thirty six hours... N-SING: usu the N, oft N n 3. If you tell someone not to beat about the bush, you mean that you want them to tell you something immediately and quickly, rather than in a complicated, indirect way. Stop beating about the bush. What's he done? PHRASE: V inflects, usu with brd-neg

Easton's Bible Dictionary

in which Jehovah appeared to Moses in the wilderness (Ex. 3:2; Acts 7:30). It is difficult to say what particular kind of plant or bush is here meant. Probably it was the mimosa or acacia. The words "in the bush" in Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37, mean "in the passage or paragraph on the bush;" i.e., in Ex. 3.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(1) (ceneh, Ex 3:2-4; De 33:16; batos, Mr 12:26; Lu 6:44, "bramble bush"; 20:37; Ac 7:30,35. All the Old Testament references and the New Testament references, except Lu 6:44, are to the same "bush," namely, Moses' "burning bush"). From its etymology ceneh clearly denotes a "thorny" plant, as does the corresponding batos in the Septuagint and New Testament. In the Latin versions rubus, i.e. "bramble," is used as equivalent. Several varieties of bramble flourish in Palestine, of which the most common is Rubus discolor, but this is not an indigenous plant in Sinai. It is stated by Post that a bush of this plant has been planted by the monks of the Convent of Catherine at Sinai to the rear of the "Chapel of the Burning Bush." In spite of tradition there is but little doubt that Moses' "burning bush" must actually have been a shrub of one of the various thorny acacias, or allied plants, indigenous in the Sinaitic peninsula.

(2) (siach "plant," Ge 2:5; "shrub," Ge 21:15; "bush," Job 30:4,7). In the first reference any kind of plant may be meant, but in the other passages the reference is to the low bushes or scrub, such as are found in the desert.

(3) (nahalolim, the King James Version bushes, the Revised Version (British and American) PASTURE, margin "bushes," Isa 7:19). The meaning appears to be rather a place for watering flocks, the corresponding Arabic root nahal, having the meaning "to quench one's thirst," and the corresponding noun of place, manhal, meaning a watering-place in the desert.

E. W. G. Masterman

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Shrub.

Moby Thesaurus

Arabia Deserta, Death Valley, Sahara, afforestation, arboretum, back country, backcountry, backwash, backwater, backwoods, barren, barren land, barrens, boondock, boondocks, borderland, bramble, brier, brier bush, brush, brushwood, bush country, bushing, bushveld, chase, climax forest, cloud forest, dendrology, desert, desolation, doubling, doublure, dust bowl, facing, filler, filling, forest, forest land, forest preserve, forestry, forests, fringing forest, frontier, gallery forest, greenwood, hanger, heath, hinterland, howling wilderness, index forest, inlay, inlayer, insole, interlineation, jungle, jungles, karroo, liner, lining, lunar landscape, lunar waste, national forest, outback, outpost, packing, padding, palmetto barrens, park, park forest, pine barrens, primeval forest, protection forest, rain forest, reforestation, salt flat, scrub, scrubland, scrubwood, selection forest, shrub, shrubbery, shrubland, shrubwood, silviculture, sprout forest, stand of timber, state forest, stuffing, the bush, timber, timberland, timbers, tree veld, uninhabited region, up-country, virgin forest, virgin land, virgin territory, wadding, wainscot, waste, wasteland, weary waste, wild, wild West, wilderness, wilds, wildwood, wood, woodland, woodlands, woods