live over the brush
live over the brush verb: to cohabit without being married.
Verb
live over the brush (third-person singular simple present lives over the brush, present participle living over the brush, simple past and past participle lived over the brush)
- To cohabit without being married.
- I know what people think about the North. They think it's all muck and living over the brush with women like Elsie Tanner.1982, Peter Tinniswood, The Home Front, page 10
- After the birth of their son, Stanley, the couple moved to Bradford and "lived over the brush" in West Bowling in a back-to-back terraced house.1991, Punch, volume 300, page 134
- Synonyms:
- live in sin
Synonyms of live over the brush
Forms of live over the brush
| third-person singular present | lives over the brush |
|---|---|
| present participle | living over the brush |
| past participle | lived over the brush |
| past | lived over the brush |
Origin of live over the brush
Possibly ultimately derived from broomstick wedding, with broomstick meaning ersatz or sham. Often said to be derived from early British or Romani wedding practices, in which a couple could become married outside the Church by leaping a broom or brush, but no evidence exists for such a ceremony.
Questions about live over the brush
- What does live over the brush mean?
- Live over the brush means to cohabit without being married.
- What part of speech is live over the brush?
- Live over the brush is a verb.
- What is the past tense of live over the brush?
- The past tense of live over the brush is lived over the brush.
Words near live over the brush in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: live over the brush (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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