[f. BUSH sb.2; originally said of wheels; with the extension of the word to the vent of muskets, etc., it appears to have been erroneously associated with F. bouche mouth, boucher to stop up (see next), or bouchon cork, plug; whence the frequent later BOUCHE v.]
1. trans. To furnish with a bush; to line (an orifice) with metal.
1566. Invent. 168 (Jam.). Item, ane pair of new cannone quheillis buschit with brass.
1675. Cotton, Burlesque upon B., 233 (D.). [He] Bushes the Naves, clouts th’ Axle-trees.
1781. Thompson, in Phil. Trans., LXXI. 264. The vent of a musket is very soon enlarged by firing, and … it is found necessary to stop it up with a solid screw, through the center of which a new vent is made of the proper dimensions. This operation is called bushing, or rather bouching the piece.
1882. Field, 16 Sept., 410. A 12-gauge gun that I had bushed on my system.
2. transf.
1881. C. A. Edwards, Organs, 69. The front pin is bushed by two or three thicknesses of baize … to avoid rattling.
