Dictionary

gorse en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɡɔɹs/ (General-American)
• /ɡɔːs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• gôrs (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English gorst, gors, from Old English gors, gorst, from Proto-West Germanic *gorst, from Proto-Germanic *gurstaz or Proto-West Germanic *gerstu (“barley”). Akin to German Gerste (“barley”) and Latin hordeum (“barley”). Also compare Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to bristle”), whence Proto-Celtic *garwos.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) An evergreen shrub, of the genus Ulex, having thorns, spiny leaves, and yellow flowers.
   • Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements. 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
   • The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common. 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:

Forms

Deriveds

gorse bird · gorseland · Meynell's Gorse · gorsy · gorse duck · gorse hatcher · gorse chat

Synonyms

furze · whin

Translations (50)

ru дро́к (evergreen shrub) · sv ärttörne (evergreen shrub) · ru утёсник (evergreen shrub) · it ginestra spinosa (evergreen shrub) · sh štipavac (evergreen shrub) · de Stechginster (evergreen shrub) · gd conasg (evergreen shrub) · hu töviszanót (evergreen shrub) · eo ulekso (evergreen shrub) · gl árgoma (evergreen shrub) · cs hlodáš (evergreen shrub) · hu sülbige (evergreen shrub) · hu sünzanót (evergreen shrub) · gl arxe (evergreen shrub) · de Ginster (evergreen shrub) · gv aittin (evergreen shrub) · es aulaga (evergreen shrub) · is hvinviður (evergreen shrub) · cy eithinen (evergreen shrub) · ca gatosa (evergreen shrub) · gl toxo (evergreen shrub) · gl broxón (evergreen shrub) · it ginestrone (evergreen shrub) · gv conney (evergreen shrub) · mi kōhi (evergreen shrub) · pt tojo (evergreen shrub) · el σπάρτος (evergreen shrub) · ast argaña (evergreen shrub) · sh штипавац (evergreen shrub) · kw eythinen (evergreen shrub) · fr ajonc (evergreen shrub) · ast toxu (evergreen shrub) · kw eythin (evergreen shrub) · eu ote (evergreen shrub) · es tojo (evergreen shrub) · pt tojeira (evergreen shrub) · he אולקס (evergreen shrub) · cy eithin (evergreen shrub) · fi piikkiherne (evergreen shrub) · nl gaspeldoorn (evergreen shrub) · ga aiteannach (evergreen shrub) · es retamo espinoso (evergreen shrub) · fo tornblað (evergreen shrub) · gv aadjin (evergreen shrub) · mi kōti (evergreen shrub) · da tornblad (evergreen shrub) · cmn 荊豆 /荆豆 (evergreen shrub) · ga aiteann (evergreen shrub) · bg пре́щип (evergreen shrub) · ar جَوْلَق (evergreen shrub)