"give someone the brush-off" meaning in English

See give someone the brush-off in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-give someone the brush-off.ogg Forms: gives someone the brush-off [present, singular, third-person], giving someone the brush-off [participle, present], gave someone the brush-off [past], given someone the brush-off [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|give<,,gave,given> someone the brush-off}} give someone the brush-off (third-person singular simple present gives someone the brush-off, present participle giving someone the brush-off, simple past gave someone the brush-off, past participle given someone the brush-off)
  1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To rebuff, snub or curtly reject someone. Tags: idiomatic, intransitive Synonyms: give somebody the run-around, give somebody the cold shoulder
    Sense id: en-give_someone_the_brush-off-en-verb-mAPqACOy Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> someone the brush-off"
      },
      "expansion": "give someone the brush-off (third-person singular simple present gives someone the brush-off, present participle giving someone the brush-off, simple past gave someone the brush-off, past participle given someone the brush-off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I asked three different clerks, and they all gave me the brush-off.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To rebuff, snub or curtly reject someone."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_someone_the_brush-off-en-verb-mAPqACOy",
      "links": [
        [
          "rebuff",
          "rebuff"
        ],
        [
          "snub",
          "snub"
        ],
        [
          "curtly",
          "curtly"
        ],
        [
          "reject",
          "reject"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic) To rebuff, snub or curtly reject someone."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "give somebody the run-around"
        },
        {
          "word": "give somebody the cold shoulder"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give someone the brush-off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/84/En-au-give_someone_the_brush-off.ogg/En-au-give_someone_the_brush-off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/En-au-give_someone_the_brush-off.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give someone the brush-off"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given someone the brush-off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> someone the brush-off"
      },
      "expansion": "give someone the brush-off (third-person singular simple present gives someone the brush-off, present participle giving someone the brush-off, simple past gave someone the brush-off, past participle given someone the brush-off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I asked three different clerks, and they all gave me the brush-off.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To rebuff, snub or curtly reject someone."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rebuff",
          "rebuff"
        ],
        [
          "snub",
          "snub"
        ],
        [
          "curtly",
          "curtly"
        ],
        [
          "reject",
          "reject"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic) To rebuff, snub or curtly reject someone."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give someone the brush-off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/84/En-au-give_someone_the_brush-off.ogg/En-au-give_someone_the_brush-off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/En-au-give_someone_the_brush-off.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "give somebody the run-around"
    },
    {
      "word": "give somebody the cold shoulder"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give someone the brush-off"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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