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brush off. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
brush off, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
brush off in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
brush off you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Verb
brush off (third-person singular simple present brushes off, present participle brushing off, simple past and past participle brushed off)
- (idiomatic) To disregard (something), to dismiss or ignore (someone), as unimportant.
1960, P G Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:Again I begged her to keep an eye on her blood pressure and not get so worked up, and once more she brushed me off, this time with a curt request that I would go and boil my head.
- (dated) To depart with a sweeping motion; to rush away.
1765, Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: W. Whitestone, , published 1776, →OCLC, page 8:Thus, ſeizing his hat, he bruſh’d off like the wind, / And the Porter and Eatables follow’d behind.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brush, off. To remove something with a brush.
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
brush off (plural brush offs)
- Nonstandard spelling of brush-off.