To BRUSH,
to flee, or run away. The Cully is brushed or rubbed; The Fellow is marched off or broke. Bought a Brush, run away.
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Entry taken from 1736 Canting Dictionary, by Nathan Bailey.
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To Brush in the 1811 Vulgar Tongue
Also see examples in Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes collected by John S. Farmer (1896).