A brush used for smearing anything with tar. Knight of the tar-brush, allusively applied to a sailor: cf. TAR sb. 3.
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 135. Tarr Brushes—2.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., vi. Do any of you knights of the tar brush know whether we are going to be drowned in Christian waters?
b. fig., esp. in such phrases as a dash or touch of the tar-brush, i.e., of negro or Indian blood, showing itself in the complexion. (In first quot. applied to a negro.)
In quot. 1895 touched with the same tar-brush = ‘tarred with the same brush’: see TAR v.1 c.
1835–40. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 179. I great opinion of you, Pompey; I make a man of you, you dam old tar brush.
1849. A. A. Paton, Highlands & Islands of the Adriatic, I. xv. 195. ‘A happy morning, Hadgi,’ said our Ragusan orientalist to a well-dressed Herzegovinian, who, to use our own slang, had got a touch of the tar-brush in his face.
1859. Lang, Wand. India, 50. The mother must have been very fair, if she were a native, the boy is so very slightly touched with the tar-brush.
1864. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 198. Brunette! I should rather think she is! There’s a strong touch of the tar-brush in that quarter.
1895. Month, Aug., 547. On this occasion all alike were touched with the same tar-brush.
So Tar-brusher, one who uses a tar-brush; fig. one who ‘blackens’ a reputation, a defamer.
1884. Pall Mall G., 5 June, 5/1. Mr. Brewer was neither a whitewasher nor a tar-brusher; he had very low fads.
