Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also dab/daub of the brush) heterosexual, occas. homosexual intercourse.

1770		D. Gunston (ed.) Jemmy Twitcher’s Jests 30: My mistress [...] called to me and said she wanted a brush; and I have just given her a brush .
1784		Rambler’s Mag. May facing 216: [cartoon caption] Let her G—e have a good Brush. I’ll give you thirty Guineas for your brush.
1797		M. Leeson Memoirs (1995) III 202: Saunders’s newspaper [...] announced the marriage of a Mr and Mrs Brush, the witty and facetious councellor Curran who was one of the party instantly produced the following: Now Brush with Mrs Brush, a Brush may take, / And Brush her Brush, so little Brushes make.
1840		‘The Chimney Sweeper’ in Facetious Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 265: The greatest of blessings of life as we pass, / Is a brush in the chimney.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 140: Frayer. To copulate; ‘to have a brush with’.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 56/2: Daub of the brush. 1. The act of sexual intercourse. 2. (P) The active peder-astic act.
1997		Share Slanguage.
1999		D. Lypchuk ‘A dirty little story’ in eye mag. 8 July 🌐 The two of them dabbed the brush, danced the goat’s jig, dug in the whisker and swept the chimney until, just as he was about to do her a kindness, his sweater fell off and he had to put a new willy-welly on.

2. the penis.

1784		Ramblers’ Mag. June 211/1: D. to Chimney-sweeper. ‘I’ll give you twenty guineas for that brush.’ Chimney-sweeper. ‘I’ll give you a brush for nothing, my lady, at any time’.
1793		Bacchanalian Mag. 9: I often repeat these sweet visits to Kate / [...] / [W]e’ll brush it about, / At morn, noon and night, ’till the brush is worn out.
1841		‘Toasts And Sentiments’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 48: The brush that lathers two beards at once.
1842		Flash (NY) 4 Sept. n.p.: Presently they were all tumbling on the grass in the yard [...] George’s brush is not dry yet.

3. a fight.

1697		Aubrey Brief Lives (1898) I 188: [T]he fight was at Babell hills, between Sherburn and Yeovill [...] But the first brush was between the earle of Northampton [. . .] and the lord Brooke, neer Banbury .
1826		Vulgarities of Speech Corrected n.p.: To have a brush with one, To have a scuffle with one.
1827		Commercial Advertiser (N.Y.) 1 Feb. 2/3: A regular brush was kicked up, and the Charlies being called, before they could burn the ken, [...] they were nabbed and carried to the nask, [...] and in the morning brought before the Beak.
1832		J. Hall Legends of the West 37: We have had a smart brush, I assure you.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 15: brush [...] an encounter. ‘It was the hardest brush I ever saw; both men were as game as pebbles. It was noting [sic] but cut, carve, and come again.’.
1865		W. Hilleary diary 23 Sept. in A Webfoot Volunteer (1965) 115: The boys had a brush with the indians & killed two.
1873		Sl. Dict. 99: Brush [...] a scrimmage.
1926		(con. 1850s) Z. Grey Fighting Caravans (1992) 222: Jim [...] told me about your gettin’ shot in thet bad brush Couch had with Comanches.
1926		M. Forrest Hibiscus Heart 228: The police had a brush with the cattle-duffers.
1943		Smith & Carnes American Guerrilla 172: [I]f finesse failed and it came to a brush with Jerry, they meant to let him know he’d been in a fight .
1986		J. Riley-Smith First Crusade 49: [A]t Nish they were thrashed in a brush with Byzantine forces.