bush1

 
Pronunciation: /bʊʃ/

noun

  • 1a shrub or clump of shrubs with stems of moderate length: a rose bush
  • historical a bunch of ivy as a vintner’s sign.
  • 2 (the bush) (especially in Australia and Africa) wild or uncultivated country: they have to spend a night camping in the bush
  • [mass noun] vegetation growing in the bush: the lowland country was covered in thick bush
  • NZ indigenous rainforest.
  • [as modifier] chiefly South African uncivilized or primitive: bush justice
  • 3a luxuriant growth of thick hair or fur: a childish face with a bush of bright hair
  • vulgar slang a woman’s pubic hair.

verb

[no object]
  • spread out into a thick clump: her hair bushed out like a halo

Phrases

go bush

Australian/NZ leave one’s usual surroundings; run wild.
[ early 20th cent: by association with the phrase take to the bush, originally said of escaped convicts]

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French bos, bosc, variants of bois 'wood', reinforced by Old Norse buski, of Germanic origin and related to Dutch bos and German Busch. The sense 'uncultivated country' is probably directly from Dutch bos