Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the pubic hair.

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.
1838		Crim.-Con. Gaz 1 Sept. 22/2: Now Brush with Mrs Brush a brush make take, / And brush her brush , and little brushes make.
1898		‘Suzan Aked’ The Simple Tale of Suzan Aked 45: What a pearl of a cunnie [...] what a lovely brush, what a lot of silky hair you have heere.
1902		D. St John Memoirs of Madge Buford 39: Thrusting his hand under my clothes [he] took hold of my brush.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1976		H. Selby Jr Demon (1979) 35: He [...] worked the tip of a few fingers under her panties and weaved his way through the brush.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 73: He had [...] kids from high school, Sunday School teachers, anything with a hole in the right place and brush round it.
1997		Share Slanguage.

2. (US, also brusher) a moustache or other facial hair.

1853		W.G. Simms Sword and the Distaff 509: ‘Corporal, we must have that fellow’s beard off.’ [...] ‘There’s no judging rightly his condition till we take off that brush.’.
1907		N.-Y. Eve. Journal 7 Feb. n.p.: Long ago, when the boys used to get out on the turf and toss the hooks, they were strong for the brush all over the face.
1908		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 21: Who’s the gink with the brush.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Three Kings and a Pair’ in Gullible’s Travels 59: I looked at the pitchers o’ the different actors, hung up on the posts to advertise some kind o’ hair tonic [...] I suppose most o’ them meant Goatee or Spinach or Brush or Hedge or Thicket or somethin’.
1922		M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 62: He also wears a bunch of brush on his upper lip that would make a good soup strainer.
1934		B. Traven Death Ship 251: You carried a little fly-brush on your lower lip; you have shaved it off since then.
1942		E. Cross Tailor and Ansty 137: There was a picture of him with a damn fine ‘brusher’ (beard). Oh! a neat brusher entirely.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 107: Only growin you’ve done in the last twenty years is that brush on your face.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 199: brush, n. – a mustache.

3. (Aus./N.Z., also bit of brush) a young woman, a generic term for women, esp. when sexually available.

1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Jul. 12/4: All the audience seem glad when husband-huntress Constantia Gage (Mrs. Brough) finally ropes in her quarry, Lord Bapchild (Mr. Brough). Why shouldn’t pluck and go win the ‘brush’ in the matrimonial field, as elsewhere?
1936		Queenslander (Brisbane) 2 July 4/4: Gone is thy glory with all its Rose, / Your ‘brush’ has skipped, wither gone who knows! / But still you think she’ll reappear? You mutt! / Be wise and say: ‘Bah, let her go.’ .
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1947		D. Davin For the Rest of Our Lives 375: Let’s see what sort of brush the Ities go for.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 26: To him all girls were collectively ‘the brush’; some were ‘hot dishes’, and others ‘drak’ sorts’.
1960		N. Hilliard Maori Girl 239: It’s the good-looking brush that gives a man all the trouble.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 226: We were all hanging out the windows, whistling up some of the bits of ‘brush’ (sheilas) that were walking along.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 79: A young brush called Rahab cribs ’em away out of sight in her house.
1974		D. Ireland Burn 66: We’ve got a thing for this little piece of brush.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 21: Brush Females.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 142/1: a bit of brush, coition — hence, a girl: mid-C.20.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 35: brush A woman, often as object of male sexual desire, the whole perceived from the pubic hair part. ANZ 1930s.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 21/1: You had to be [...] hell on the dance floor, cocksure with the brush, and dapper as all get out.