Word.ws English Dictionary

gave someone the brush-off

gave someone the brush-off is the simple past of give someone the brush-off.

Meaning of give someone the brush-off

Verb

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. (idiomatic, intransitive) To rebuff, snub or curtly reject someone.
    • I asked three different clerks, and they all gave me the brush-off.
    Synonyms:
    give somebody the run-around, give somebody the cold shoulder

Questions about gave someone the brush-off

What is gave someone the brush-off the simple past of?
Gave someone the brush-off is the simple past of give someone the brush-off.

Words near gave someone the brush-off in the dictionary

  1. gave someone something to think about
  2. gave someone the air
  3. gave someone the arm
  4. gave someone the bag
  5. gave someone the boot
  6. gave someone the brush-off
  7. gave someone the business
  8. gave someone the chair
  9. gave someone the cold shoulder
  10. gave someone the creeps
  11. gave someone the eye

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave someone the brush-off (page history and authors); give someone the brush-off (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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