broom bush en · NOUN
Etymology
From broom + bush.
Meanings
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(countable, uncountable) Various taxa of Genisteae traditionally used to make brooms.
Your box ſhall be ſent next week by ſea. You will find in it some pieces of the broom buſh, which you ſaw growing on the old caſtle of Auchinleck. The wood has a curious appearance when ſawn acroſs. You may either have a little writing-stand made of it, or get it formed into boards for a treatiſe on witchcraft, by way of a ſuitable binding.
1791, James Boswell, “[1773]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 429:
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(countable, uncountable) Melaleuca uncinata, a plant in the paperbark family, native to southern Australia.
For about twenty-five miles we traversed an entirely open plain, similar to that just described, and mostly covered with the waving broom bushes; […]
1889, Ernest Giles, Australia Twice Traversed:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| broom-bush | alternative | lexicographic | |
| broombush | alternative | lexicographic | |
| broom bushes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |