Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) to rush off, to run away; as excl. go away! off with you!

1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn) brush to fly. As the Cully is brush’d or rub’d, that is, He is march’t off or broke.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Brush c. to Fly or Run away. The Cully is Brusht or Rub’d, c. the Fellow is march’d off, or Brok.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 194: The Cully is brushed. [The Fellow is rubbed off or broken].
1709		Cibber Rival Fools I i: Ahum! hum! Brush off, Brush off, this Fellow’s bewitch’d.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 203: Brush, to fly or run away. The Cully is brushed or rubbed, i.e., the fellow is marched off, or broke.
1737		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 116: To go away Brush or Lope.
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 17: To fly or run away – Brush off.
1764		A. Murphy No One’s Enemy But His Own II i: ‘Hold your tongue, you rascal —do as I bid you’ and so off he brushed, to the tune of an old song.
1773		Foote The Bankrupt I i: But I must brush off, for here comes my Lady.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To brush, to run away. Let us buy a brush and lope, let us get away, or off.
1790		Jew Swindler n.p.: I begin to think we had better brush from this quarter.
1790		M.P. Andrews Better Late than Never 40: If I can but get safe into the street, little Pallet will soon brush off.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) II 74: The old lady brushed off, to go and usher him in.
1816		W.T. Moncrieff All at Coventry II ii: All up with me here – cut – down – jockied – must brush. – Yes, I’ll leave this cursed Coventry.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 127: They are sure to nab my gentleman before he gets much farther, so let us brush on. [Ibid.] II 58: ‘What is meant by a bolter?’ ‘He is one,’ replied Dashall, ‘who, having obtained the privilege of a Day Rule, brushes off, and leaves his bondsmen, or the Marshal, to pay his debt.’.
1823		‘One Who Knows’ Inside Out; or, An Interior View of the N.-Y. State Prison 225: But, his expected companion had ‘brushed the scene’ without him.
1833		‘Take a Sight’ in Rummy Cove’s Delight in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 104: So brush, Master Bobby, it will not do.
1836		‘Jack of Horslydown’ in Flash Casket 59: She’s o’er the water and brush’d off / Vith Jack o Horslydown.
1840		R. Barham ‘The Dead Drummer’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 208: One of the drummers, and one Sergeant Matcham, / Had ‘brushed with the dibs’.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 12: BRUSH, or brush-off, to run away, or to move on Old cant.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor II 350/2: The man ‘brushed’ (to use their expression) or rather walked off.
1876		H.E. Malet Annals of the Road 81: ‘Now, gentlemen, you brush in and I will brush on’.
1880		W. Hooe Sharping London 34: Brush, to make off.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 12: Brush Off, to move on quickly.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 29: BRUSHER: to abscond, to run away, to avoid.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 2: Brush by, you three-dollar pikers, and give a salaried man a show!
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1942		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 17 Oct. 10: When we do get back to the ‘Apple,’ Muds will have brushed.

2. (UK Und.) to rush sway with stolen goods.

1792

New Cheats of London Exposed 27: While the person is gone over, the things are brushed, that is, carried off .

3. (Aus.) to cancel.

1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 213: ‘You going to the Sheaf tonight Woz?’ [...] ‘No, I think I’ll brush it’.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] I’m taking her down for an X-ray first thing in the morning, so the paddle’s brushed.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 14: Ray suggested they brush the bogie hole and just fartarse around in front of the boat sheds.