bush
A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being…A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.
» Tom doesn't beat around the bush.
Том не ходить коло та навколо.
Meaning
16 sensesA woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.
Strauch, Busch
кустkust, куста́рникkustárnik
кущkušč
A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.
bushes to support pea vines
(historical)A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
(slang, vulgar)A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.
волосня́volosnjá
hair growing in the pubic area
The tail, or brush, of a fox.
(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, countable, often, uncountable)Tracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largely undeveloped and uncultivated, typically distinguished from absolute wilderness by implying a degree of marginal human engagement or proximity to settlement edges.
Tracts of land covered in natural vegetation that are largely undeveloped and uncultivated, typically distinguished from absolute wilderness by implying a degree of marginal human engagement or proximity to settlement edges.
(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, countable, often, uncountable)The countryside area of Australia that is less arid and less remote than the outback; loosely, areas of natural flora even within conurbations.
(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, countable, often, uncountable)An area of New Zealand covered in forest, especially native forest.
(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, countable, often, uncountable)The wild forested areas of Canada; upcountry.
(Canada, countable, uncountable)A wood lot or bluff on a farm.
Amateurish behavior, short for bush league behavior
A thick washer or hollow cylinder of metal.
Examples
447 sentencesTom doesn't beat around the bush.
Том не ходить коло та навколо.
I didn't beat around the bush.
Я не став ходити коло та навколо.
ruЯ не стал ходить вокруг да около.
Tom didn't beat around the bush.
Том не став ходити коло та навколо.
ruТом не стал ходить вокруг да около.
Don't beat around the bush.
Досить ходити коло та навколо.
ruХватит ходить вокруг да около.
deRede nicht um den heißen Brei herum!
Quit beating around the bush.
Годі вже ходити коло й навколо.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 2
By meaning 2
Origin
From Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenaFrom Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque.
From the sign of a bush usually employed to indicate such places.
A semantic expansion of bush (see Etymology 1, archaic and dialectal sense of “thicket” or “small wood”), which survived in English dialects and London‐area toponyms (such as Shepherd’s Bush). In its native English form, the term inherently denoted a scrubby, localized feature. In British colonies, this specific sense was applied to the broader landscape, evolving into a mass noun for the wilderness. This development was likely reinforced by, or originated as a semantic loan from, the cognate older Dutch bosch (modern bos (“wood, forest”)), which had undergone a similar semantic shift in the Dutch settlements of North America (such as New Netherland) and later the Cape Colony. From the North American Dutch loan, English acquired the concept of “the bush” as a vast, untamed wilderness. Evidence of this early linguistic integration appears in late 17th‐century English records via compound calques from both major Dutch contact zones: the 1695 North American use of “bushloopers” (anglicized from Dutch boschlooper (“woods‐runner”)) and the 1699 Cape Colony reference to “Wild‐bush‐Men” (translating Cape Dutch Bosjesman). However, as an independent topographical noun describing the South African landscape, the English term is not securely attested until circa 1780.
Back-formation from bush league.
From Middle Dutch busse (“box; wheel bushing”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhsā. More at box.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: bushesSynonyms
42 synonyms- vice president under Reagan and 41st President of the United States (born in 1924):George BushGeorge H.W. BushGeorge H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker BushPresident Bush
- 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):Vannevar Bush
- 43rd President of the United States; son of George Herbert Walker Bush (born in 1946):George BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker BushPresident BushPresident George W. BushDubyuhDubya
- hair growing in the pubic area:pubic haircrotch hair
- a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems:shrub
- dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes:scrubchaparral
Word family
225 related wordsCollocations
5 patterns- around the bush
- in the bushes
- behind a bush
- the bush and
- behind the bushes