DCHP-2

brush ((v.)) DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 v.

  clear the brush from land.

  See also: brush out  

  • 1863  . . . Arthur was "brushing" at a short distance from the shanty.
  • 1896  They . . . brushed the road and blazed it after him. . . .
  • 1925  I've brushed and cleared three acres. . . .

• 2 v.

  cover soft ground with brush to make a trail or road passable for men and horses.

  • 1880  The only route . . . leads . . . over treacherous swamps, where we were . . . delayed by the necessity of "brushing" the trail.
  • 1905  (1910)  All boggy and soft places should be brushed and . . . small streams should be bridged.
  • 1913  (1917)  . . . the work of brushing the trail was by no means unpleasant.

• 3 v.

  mark a trail, especially by setting small evergreen trees upright along a route across frozen water.

  See also: balise ((n.))  bush ((n.)) (def. 2)  balise ((v.))  

  • 1901  Artillery Lake was reached . . . more than two weeks after it had been first visited by Fairchild and Acres, when exploring and "brushing" the trail for our voyageurs.
  • 1934  "Brushing" a lake was necessary to mark a trail.