hairbrush
(ˈhɛəbrʌʃ)
1. A toilet-brush for smoothing and dressing the hair.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 259/2 Pinguefye the hayrebrushe in Hartes marrowe, or in stale Bitches milcke, when as you will dresse your hayre. 1851 Offic. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 528 Circular hair brushes, capable of revolving either way. 1886 Fenn Master of Ceremonies i, The nail had been driven in with the back of a hair-brush. |
2. Used (chiefly attrib.) of a kind of hand-grenade.
| 1916 J. N. Hall Kitchener's Mob ix. 132 Ten or a dozen varieties of bombs were in use... The ‘hairbrush’, the ‘lemon bomb’, the ‘cricket ball’, and the ‘policeman's truncheon’ were the most important of these, all of them so-called because of their resemblance to the articles for which they were named. 1919 J. Masefield Battle of Somme 9 Just before they got us we found some hairbrush bombs. 1923 Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 75 The ‘stick’ hand-grenade of the hair-brush type. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 113 Hair⁓brush grenade, the name for a type of hand-grenade used in the early part of the War, with a handle, the shape of which suggested a lady's hair-brush. |