What's the difference between brush and skirmish?

Brush


Definition:

  • (n.) An instrument composed of bristles, or other like material, set in a suitable back or handle, as of wood, bone, or ivory, and used for various purposes, as in removing dust from clothes, laying on colors, etc. Brushes have different shapes and names according to their use; as, clothes brush, paint brush, tooth brush, etc.
  • (n.) The bushy tail of a fox.
  • (n.) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
  • (n.) Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood.
  • (n.) A thicket of shrubs or small trees; the shrubs and small trees in a wood; underbrush.
  • (n.) A bundle of flexible wires or thin plates of metal, used to conduct an electrical current to or from the commutator of a dynamo, electric motor, or similar apparatus.
  • (n.) The act of brushing; as, to give one's clothes a brush; a rubbing or grazing with a quick motion; a light touch; as, we got a brush from the wheel as it passed.
  • (n.) A skirmish; a slight encounter; a shock or collision; as, to have a brush with an enemy.
  • (n.) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
  • (n.) To apply a brush to, according to its particular use; to rub, smooth, clean, paint, etc., with a brush.
  • (n.) To touch in passing, or to pass lightly over, as with a brush.
  • (n.) To remove or gather by brushing, or by an act like that of brushing, or by passing lightly over, as wind; -- commonly with off.
  • (v. i.) To move nimbly in haste; to move so lightly as scarcely to be perceived; as, to brush by.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) There was appreciable variation in toothbrush wear among subjects, some reducing their brush to a poor state in 2 weeks whereas with others the brush was rated as "good" after 10 weeks.
  • (2) These results indicate that both the renal brush-border and basolateral membranes possess the Na(+)-dependent dicarboxylate transport system with very similar properties but with different substrate affinity and transport capacity.
  • (3) The relationship between technique of obtaining Papanicolaou smears, presence of endocervical cells, and rate of cervical neoplasia was studied by comparing an endocervical and ectocervical nylon brush (Bayne brush), Ayre spatula plus endocervical brush, and spatula plus cotton-tipped swab in a randomized, prospective trial involving 11,061 patients.
  • (4) The teeth of 13 dental nurse students were brushed by a dental hygienist.
  • (5) All inhibitors had no effect on L-Ala uptake into brush-border membrane vesicles in presence of Na+ gradient.
  • (6) At 4 degrees C or after fixation, anti-renal tubular brush border vesicle (BBV) IgG bound diffusely to the surface of GEC and to coated pits.
  • (7) These results show that tunicamycin, an inhibitor of glycosylation, significantly affected the expression of brush border membrane glycoproteins, suggesting that both polypeptide synthesis and degradation of these proteins may be altered in the presence of this drug.
  • (8) From these results it is suggested that the lipid peroxidation of the brush-border membranes by addition of dithiothreitol plus Fe2+ is sensitively changed with change in ionic strength.
  • (9) Attach self-adhesive foam strips, or metal strips with brushes or wipers attached, to window, door and loft-hatch frames (if you have sash windows, it's better to ask a professional to do it).
  • (10) Vladimir Putin brushed off complaints of election fixing during his annual televised live chat with the nation on Thursday , but behind the scenes his lieutenants are anxiously plotting how to quell rising discontent.
  • (11) A model system of exfoliated normal human cervicovaginal squamous cells, exfoliated rodent tumor cells, and acellular, viscous, mucuslike material was used to investigate cell deposition on smear preparations made with three different instruments: plastic spatulas, wooden spatulas, and brush-tipped collectors.
  • (12) The aim of this study was to identify and purify the Na+-H+ exchanger from rabbit renal brush border membranes by use of affinity chromatography.
  • (13) The effect of zinc on sodium coupled glucose uptake was studied in pig intestinal brush border membrane vesicles.
  • (14) In purified jejunal brush-border membranes both alkaline phosphatase and sucrase activities are increased at 4 or 7 weeks but especially at 13 weeks of hypertension.
  • (15) The device was composed of a standard biopsy brush, protected by a single catheter and occluded with an agar plug.
  • (16) The method is based on brushing of copper surface with the studied paste in a device of own design, followed by chemical analysis of copper content in the mass after brushing.
  • (17) Plaque evaluations and brushing procedures were performed as in Visit 1 of the study.
  • (18) However, unlike rodent kidney, we were unable to detect a comparable HMWgp in extracts of human kidney on SDS-PA gels and found no cross-reactive material on Western blots of human brush border membrane proteins.
  • (19) The protein is localized in the brush border of primary and secondary epithelium.
  • (20) For now, Shimizu will not allow the children in her care to be interviewed and brushes off praise for her selflessness.

Skirmish


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To fight slightly or in small parties; to engage in a skirmish or skirmishes; to act as skirmishers.
  • (v. i.) A slight fight in war; a light or desultory combat between detachments from armies, or between detached and small bodies of troops.
  • (v. i.) A slight contest.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This we can see writ large in the prime minister’s skirmishes with Philip Hammond , the only member of government visibly considering the national interest.
  • (2) Manouras added: We will only know once the coroner has conducted an autopsy, but what I can say is that there were no police or skirmishes at the spot at which he died.
  • (3) But decades of struggle and skirmishes with neighbours have resulted in a tightly guarded border, and they were soon captured by men in uniform.
  • (4) On Wembley Way the party atmosphere had been briefly punctuated by a skirmish between rival fans.
  • (5) Benghazi's special forces, who declared support for Haftar, have skirmished with the militias he is targeting but the general himself has not yet been inside the city.
  • (6) But the confrontation quickly escalated into a series of skirmishes as the two sides played a deadly cat and mouse game in the centre of the city.
  • (7) On the face of it, this was little more than a skirmish in a town on Mali's north-east confines.
  • (8) For the UN negotiators in Qatar, this year's talks are just the skirmishes before the key date of 2015, when a new global agreement must be achieved.
  • (9) But Panorama's North Korea film, due to be broadcast on Monday, presents a challenge of a different order to the skirmish earlier last week about playing a song on the charts that could be taken as disrespectful to Lady Thatcher.
  • (10) No, I see it as being the right opportunity at the right time,” says a man desperate to break Wearside’s perennial relegation skirmishes.
  • (11) That interpretation was then corroborated by Labour MPs, who either hadn’t read the document or saw it as a handy weapon in skirmishes for control of the party’s election message.
  • (12) 4.08pm: Below the line, baerchen is upbeat : "Having watched England's superstar striker give the ball away umpty-nine times against Man City last night with some of the clumsiest touches seen since my brief skirmish with a girl from Hackenthorpe in 1971, they might as well give the job to Charles Chimp for all the difference it will make.
  • (13) It is the latest skirmish in the bitter infighting that has befallen Ukip since the election in which the party won 4 million votes but just one parliamentary seat.
  • (14) While the skirmish between Chris Christie and Paul over terrorism and its prevention via surveillance got a lot of media attention this week , it's more helpful to look at the general trend among potential candidates.
  • (15) Police fired volleys of tear gas canisters into a crowd of thousands - people in office clothes as well as youths in masks who had fought skirmishes throughout the day - scattering them into side streets and nearby hotels.
  • (16) When TV cameras start filming skirmishes in the crowd, Trump argues their focus on the protesters is evidence of liberal media bias.
  • (17) This rapidly escalating skirmish in American culture wars came after the Department of Justice sued North Carolina for a state law that forced people to only use public bathrooms that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificates.
  • (18) In Tripoli, fighters from the GNC’s militia force, Libya Dawn , have turned on each other in several nights of skirmishing, even as pro-Tobruk forces battle Libya Dawn for control of the coastal highway west of the city.
  • (19) Skirmishes have flared outside Iraqi’s second largest city over the last few days with an airstrike on one of its main bridges on Sunday.
  • (20) It's the first battle cry in the pair's hair-raising physical and mental skirmish and has become something approaching a catchphrase.