Brush space on table (9)
I believe the answer is:
encounter
'brush' is the definition.
(I know that brush can be written as encounter)
'space on table' is the wordplay.
'space' becomes 'en' (in printing, a space as wide as a letter 'n').
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'table' becomes 'counter' (counter is a kind of table).
'en'+'counter'='ENCOUNTER'
(Other definitions for encounter that I've seen before include "Struggle" , "Meet by chance with encore nut" , "Unexpected meeting" , "tackle" , "Come accross, meet (9)" .)