en brosse

[ ahn braws ]

adjective

, French.

1. (of hair) cut to stand straight in an even row on top, often as a crew cut.

en brosse

/ ɑ̃ brɔs /

adjective

1. (of the hair) cut very short so that the hair stands up stiffly

Word History and Origins

Origin of en brosse¹

literally: in the style of a brush

Example Sentences

The speaker was a short, stout elderly man, his hair cut en brosse.

From Literature

A tall, well-preserved man, with a full head of dark hair, cut Kennedy-like en brosse, Oakes had, he told me, become fixated when in 1971, still a high school senior, he had read right through the many fat volumes of the Warren Commission's report into the assassination.

From BBC

Penny is a tall, spare man, his en brosse brown quiff falls over a high forehead behind which is secreted a vast amount of knowledge about art – knowledge he imparts with an enthusiasm so exquisitely modulated by an innate diffidence that it's impossible not to hang on his every word.

From The Guardian

Peering at the stranger, Kenneth saw a man of about thirty-five, with hair en brosse, Germanic moustache, and a German military uniform.

From Project Gutenberg

Behind stood a well-drilled guard-of-honour of Fijians, in khaki, with heads protected from the fierce rays of the sun by hair that might be the despair and envy of the boulevards, twelve inches en brosse, and of a ferocity!

From Project Gutenberg