brush-off, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

brush-off n.

also brush, brusheroo, brush-by

[SE brush, to sweep, as with a brush; the image of brushing specks of dirt from one’s clothes]

a snub, an act of rejection; also attrib.

1728		Vanbrugh & Cibber Provoked Husband II i: I’gad I don’t like his Looks – he seems a little smoaky – I believe I had as good brush off – If I stay, I don’t know but he may ask me some odd Questions.
1897		Ade Pink Marsh (1963) 171: She kep’ lookin’ at ’e window, an’ neveh see me at all—jus’ gi’ me ’at ‘brush-by’ sign.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Feb. 12/3: The story goes that a brush occured at [...] Smellbourne’s most swaggah boarding-house. After the wine and chestnuts had passed round, somebody swung up to a popular officer [...] and insulted him. The professional fire-eater told him summarily and simply to ‘shut-up.’.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 17 June [synd. col.] She wouldn’t even come to the phone . . . Sortuva high-toned brush-off, no?
1942		W. Winchell On Broadway [synd. col.] 16 Jan. One local publisher had a sure-fure brush-off for job applicants who flirt with the bottle.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 135: Brush— [...] The ‘brush-off’.
1945		Truth (Brisbane) 28 Oct. 12/3: ‘He [...] said, “Thanks for the brush-off.”’ Magistrate: ‘How did he mean, “brush-off”?’ Witness: ‘He meant, I’d stood him up’.
1952		L. Lariar Day I Died 146: ‘I think,’ said Sue, ‘that I’m being given the brush.’.
1960		A. Seymour One Day of the Year III i: As nice and polite a—brushoff as I ever heard.
a.1963		‘The Fall’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 86: I’m not going for no brush or no bum whore’s rush, / And I know that’s what you plan.
1965		T. Wolfe Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1966) 24: The manager [...] looks up at the old guy from under his eyebrows with a version of the Red Hook brush-off.
1967		K. Tennant Tell Morning This 21: The noted propensities of the brush for putting you in [ibid.] 27: ‘Hec’ll only give you the brush-off’.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 46: ‘When I get some time,’ Earl said, not noticing that his brushoff made Ron blush.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 160: Now Alex understood why he’d been played off with the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ when he detached himself from Jenny after her brush-off at the bar.
2012		M.E. Fitch ‘Monster’ in ThugLit Oct. [ebook] Even if they call the police, they get the brush-off because the police know they’re unstable.

In phrases

get the brush(-off) (v.)

to be ignored, snubbed.

1833		Satirist (London) 17 Mar. 511/1: ‘He got into the mire at Hertford, and run foul of a soot bag here in town. He got the brush in the country, and the sweep in Drury-lane.
1945		Dundee Courier 11 Jan. 2/4: [headline] Monty gets glory, Yanks get brush-off.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 28: The ones who had already made up their minds almost got the brush.
1958		R. Chandler Playback 191: He got the brush [...] from Captain Alessandro.
1987		B. Chatwin Songlines 48: ‘Everyone wants to look up Father Dan,’ he said. ‘Until they get the brush-off.’.
1999		Indep. Rev. 13 Aug. 10: Needless to say, she gets the brush-off.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] A terrific girl who was getting the right royal brush-off.

give someone the brush(-off) (v.)

(orig. US) to ignore, to snub.

1928		R. Hall Well of Loneliness (1976) 49: Why, he only gave you the brush for fun, because you were such a small kid.
1935		News (Frederick, MD) 15 Feb. 4/7: To ‘give the brush’ is to reject a proposition or a person’s friendship.
1940		J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 22: He came over and introduced her to me and she gave me a slight brush. [Ibid.] 86: She [...] was glad to see me instead of giving me the brush.
1941		N. Davis ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 44: You gave her the old brush-off.
1946		J. Evans Halo in Blood (1988) 85: I wasn’t giving you the brush. [Ibid.] 223: Zarr [...] gives her a fast line of patter and a faster brushoff.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 56: And then she gave you the brusheroo?
1951		W. Burroughs letter 5 May in Harris (1993) 84: He has to give me the brush in the nastiest and bitchiest way he can devise.
1952		B. Appel Plunder (2005) 297: ‘They gave me the brush-off,’ he reported ruefully.
1963		A. Baron Lowlife (2001) 61: I should have given him the brush-off again.
1965		L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 182: Her mother gave me the brush.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 231: Because they were nearly ready to shoot, his first impulse was to give her a momentary brush.
1980		M. Bail Homesickness (1999) 127: Twisting around and still without looking at them she gave them the brush-off.
1988		(con. 1940s) C. Bram Hold Tight (1990) 182: He’s gonna be riled I gave him the brush.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 307: They gave me the brush-off, so I say the heck with them.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 195: The cop who answered the phone was dismissive and gave her the brush-off.
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 34: She gave the whole tribe the brush-off.