Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small brush used to sweep up ashes, etc., on a hearth.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Today she overwhelmed me with shrill reproaches, and abased me to the level of a hearth-brush.

    Poor Folk 2003

  • Marian found her standing in the passage, with a duster in one hand and a hearth-brush in the other.

    New Grub Street 2003

  • She seemed willing to do her best; though she thrust the hearth-brush into the grates in mistake for the poker, and mal-appropriated several other articles of her craft: but I retired, confiding in her energy for a resting-place against my return.

    Wuthering Heights 2002

  • Here the hickory-stick broke in two, and the two brands fell controversially out and apart on the hearth, scattering the ashes and coals, and calling for Jennie and the hearth-brush.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 76, February, 1864 Various

  • As for John Kendal, he was certainly new and original, but he was respectable notwithstanding; they could be certain that he was not putting his originality on -- with a hearth-brush, for the sake of advertisement.

    A Daughter of To-Day Sara Jeannette Duncan

  • Then looking round for more surgical needs to operate upon, and finding a hapless horse minus a tail, Alick ingeniously supplied the unbecoming deficiency with bristles out of the hearth-brush.

    The Captain's Bunk A Story for Boys M. B. Manwell

  • "But why?" yelped the pup, as the maid threw a hearth-brush at his head.

    The Nursery, No. 109, January, 1876, Vol. XIX. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers Various

  • He had insisted on making himself up, and looked as if he had pressed his face against a gridiron and then garnished his chin with the hearth-brush.

    Overture to Death Marsh, Ngaio, 1895-1982 1939

  • She was very much out of breath, yet not at all upset, and as she put down the hearth-brush which she had bought of the oil-man, she said it was hot, flung the window further open, straightened a cover, picked up

    Jacob's Room Virginia Woolf 1911

  • The windows opened on to a garden whence the scent of lilac floated, and the whole room -- down to the hearth-brush, which charmed

    Barbara in Brittany E. A. Gillie 1907

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