bürsten

From Middle High German bürsten; see Borste (“brush, bristle”).

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bürsten (weak, third-person singular present bürstet, past tense bürstete, past participle gebürstet, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to scrub; to clean a surface with a brush (but not usually teeth, for which putzen)

   Die Kacheln müsste ich mal richtig bürsten.

   I have to properly brush these tiles sometime.

2. (transitive) to brush (hair)

   Ich bürste dir kurz die Haare.

   I’ll brush your hair quickly.

3. (transitive) to brush someone’s hair (should be used with caution in some contexts because of the vulgar sense below)

   Ich bürste dich kurz.

   I’ll brush your hair quickly.

   (literally, “I’ll brush you quickly.”)

4. (reflexive) to brush one’s own hair

   Ich bürste mich kurz.

   I’ll brush my hair quickly.

5. (transitive, colloquial, vulgar) to fuck, have sex with

• Kämmen (literally “to comb”) is often preferred with hair, even when the device used is a brush rather than a comb.

• Bürste

• “bürsten” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “bürsten” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “bürsten” in Duden online
• “bürsten” in OpenThesaurus.de