Dictionary

ashplant en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈæʃ.plænt/

Etymology

From ash + plant.

Meanings

1. An ash sapling.
2. (Ireland) A walking stick.
   • The colonnade above him made him think vaguely of an ancient temple and the ashplant on which he leaned wearily of the curved stick of an augur. / He began to beat the frayed end of his ashplant against the base of a pillar. 1922, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, page 264:
   • "She'll do," said Kelly and tapped his ash-plant / Across her hindquarters. 1969, Seamus Heaney, The Outlaw, line 20-21
   • She look her hat, and ashplant, and left them. 1928, Mary Butts, Armed With Madness, page 8:
   • Unconscious of their bulging eyes, he pounded on the door of the mayor's house with the knob of his ashplant. 2001, Carol Kendall, Erik Blegvad, The Gammage Cup: A Novel of the Minnipins, page 221:
3. A cane for administering corporal punishment.
   • Bob Cherry bent over and touched his toes. The ashplant swished and swished. 1934, Frank Richards, The Magnet: Kidnapped from the Air:

Forms