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giving someone the brush-off

giving someone the brush-off is the present participle and gerund 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)

(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 giving someone the brush-off

What is giving someone the brush-off the present participle and gerund of?: Giving someone the brush-off is the present participle and gerund of give someone the brush-off.

Words near giving someone the brush-off in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “giving someone the brush-off.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/giving_someone_the_brush-off. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.