bush

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noun (1)

ˈbu̇sh 

often attributive

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

—William Shakespeare

4

: a bushy tuft or mass

a bush of hair

especially : brush entry 2 sense 2a

5

: minor league

—usually used in plural

spent ten years in the bushes

bush

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verb

bushed; bushing; bushes

transitive verb

: to support, mark, or protect with bushes

intransitive verb

: to extend like a bush : resemble a bush

bush

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adjective (1)

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

bush

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noun (2)

chiefly British

: bushing

bush

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adjective (2)

: falling below acceptable standards : unprofessional

bush behavior

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• backcountry
• backland(s)
• backwater
• backwoods
• frontier
• hinterland
• outback
• outlands
• up-country

Adjective (2)

• bad
• bastard
• bush-league
• crummy
• crumby
• deficient
• dissatisfactory
• ill
• inferior
• lame
• lousy
• off
• paltry
• poor
• punk
• sour
• suboptimal
• subpar
• substandard
• unacceptable
• unsatisfactory
• wack [slang]
• wanting
• wretched
• wrong

Examples of bush in a Sentence

Noun (1)

a guide who specializes in taking adventurous tourists through the bush

Adjective (2)

a hopelessly bush effort at creating a romantic comedy

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

That effect was on display on Viejas Mountain, where winds whipped the peak’s western flank Tuesday morning, rattling bushes near the 4,187-foot summit. —Karen Kucher, The Mercury News, 11 Dec. 2024

In another assassination attempt in September, a gunman waited for hours for Trump to appear at his golf course in Florida, but a Secret Service agent thwarted the attack by spotting the firearm poking through some bushes. —Rebecca Santana, Los Angeles Times, 10 Dec. 2024

Verb

After an incredibly busy and exhausting trip through Washington D.C. and New York City, including museums, hot muggy treks through the city, and four Broadway shows—a genuinely wonderful trip—and a full day of travel over Labor Day, I am bushed. —Erik Kain, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2024

Adjective

The handy device is designed with a tri-bush system, complete with side brushes, channel brushes, and a multi-surface brushroll that work in tandem to pick up all the dirt, hair, and dander scattered around the house. —Amy Schulman, PEOPLE.com, 10 July 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English bussh, bosch, buissh "woods, thicket, underbrush, shrub, underbrush concealing a hunter or fighter," later forms (probably assimilated to an Anglo-French variant of *buis, bois "woodland, wood [the material]" with a final hushing consonant) of boske, buske, going back to Old English *busc, going back to Germanic *buska- (perhaps also beside an earlier u-stem *busku-) (whence also Old Saxon -busc in brāmalbusk "bramble bush," Middle Dutch bosch, busch "forest, bunch, bundle," Old High German busc, bosc "shrub, bramble bush, thicket, grove," Old Swedish buske "bush," Old Norse [Norway] buskær, a nickname, probably "the bushy-haired one," Old Icelandic Buski, name for a dog, probably "the bristly one"), of uncertain origin; (sense 2) probably after Dutch bosch in this sense

Note: The Germanic pedigree of *buska- is relatively meager for the early periods. Old English *busc is perhaps evident in the place name Wardebusc, Veardebusc (modern Warboys in Huntingdonshire), attested in tenth-century charters, though Ekwall (Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names) took it as of Scandinavian origin. The Old High German forms are attested only in glosses from the twelfth century or later. An earlier opinion, propounded in Skeat and the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, was that the Germanic words were borrowed from "Late Latin"; however, Latin boscus "wood, woodland"—the form buscus is less frequent—is not attested before the early eighth century. The genuine depth of Germanic attestation for *buska- and congeners was thoroughly explicated by Johannes Hubschmied in "Romanisch-germanische Wortprobleme I. Zur Geschichte von bois, bûche (mit Berücksichtigung der Ortsnamen)," Vox Romanica, Band 29 (1970), pp. 82-122, 283-302. There now seems little question that the etymon is Germanic, and that corresponding Romance words are borrowed from Germanic. Note that beside *busk- a form *bosk- is evident in Middle English and elsewhere, especially Romance. Hubschmied explains *busk- as an outcome in an original u-stem, with *bosk- resulting from lowering before a non-high vowel in the next syllable; alternatively, the -u- could simply result from failure of lowering. Also widespread in Middle English, especially east midland and northern, and in early Scots, are forms without palatalized sk, as bosk(e), buske (compare bosky), which have been attributed both to Old Norse and to Anglo-French bosc. See also boiserie, boscage, bosquet and bouquet, and compare ambush entry 1.

Verb

derivative of bush entry 1

Adjective (1)

from attributive use of bush entry 1

Noun (2)

Dutch bus bushing, box, from Middle Dutch busse box, from Late Latin buxis — more at box entry 1

Adjective (2)

short for bush-league

First Known Use

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Adjective (1)

1595, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1566, in the meaning defined above

Adjective (2)

1959, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing bush

• a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
• beat about the bush
• beat around the bush
• beauty bush
• burning bush
• bush baby
• bush basil
• bush clover
• bush jacket
• bush league
• bush pilot
• bush shirt
• butterfly bush
• calico bush
• cranberry bush
• creosote bush
• rabbit bush
• red bush
• red bush tea
• strawberry bush
• sugar bush
• the bush

Kids Definition

bush

noun

ˈbu̇sh

1

: shrub

especially : a low densely branched shrub

2

: a stretch of uncleared or lightly settled country

3

: a bushy tuft or mass

Biographical Definition

Bush 1 of 3

biographical name (1)

ˈbu̇sh 

George (Herbert Walker) 1924–2018 American politician; vice president of the U.S. (1981–89); 41st president of the U.S. (1989–93)

Bush

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biographical name (2)

George W(alker) 1946–     son of George H. W. Bush American politician; 43rd president of the U.S. (2001–09)

Bush

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biographical name (3)

Van*ne*var və-ˈnē-vər  1890–1974 American electrical engineer