Meaning

noun a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems

noun a large wilderness area

noun dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes

originA semantic expansion of bush (see Etymology 1, archaic and dialectal sense of “thicket” or “small wood”), which survived in English dialects and London‐area toponyms (such as Shepherd’s Bush). In its native English form, the term inherently denoted a scrubby, localized feature. In British colonies, this specific sense was applied to the broader landscape, evolving into a mass noun for the…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0