Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Broom
Broom
(broōm)
, Noun.
[OE. ]
brom
, brome
, AS. brōm
; akin to LG. bram
, D. brem
, OHG. brāmo
broom, thorn[GREEK]bush, G. brombeere
blackberry. Cf. Bramble
, Noun.
1.
(Bot.)
A plant having twigs suitable for making brooms to sweep with when bound together; esp., the
Cytisus scoparius
of Western Europe, which is a low shrub with long, straight, green, angular branches, minute leaves, and large yellow flowers. No gypsy cowered o’er fires of furze and
broom
. Wordsworth.
2.
An implement for sweeping floors, etc., commonly made of the panicles or tops of broom corn, bound together or attached to a long wooden handle; – so called because originally made of the twigs of the broom.
Butcher's broom
, a plant (
– Ruscus aculeatus
) of the Smilax family, used by butchers for brooms to sweep their blocks; – called also knee holly
. See Cladophyll
. Dyer's broom
, a species of mignonette (
– Reseda luteola
), used for dyeing yellow; dyer's weed; dyer's rocket. Spanish broom
. See under
Spanish
.Webster 1828 Edition
Broom
BROOM
,n.1.
A plant of several species, called dyer's weed, being used by dyers to give a yellow color,dyer's broom, green wood, or wood waxen, dwarf broom, all belonging to the genus Genista. Broom rape is Orobanche, and with large purple flowers, Lathroea.Spanish Broom is a species of Spartium, and Butcher's broom is the Ruscus.
2.
A besom, or brush with a long handle for sweeping floors; so called from being originally made of the broom-plant. In America, brooms are made of the tops of broom-corn, or of some species of wood splintered, chiefly ash. The latter species of broom is furnished by the natives of the country. The original broom, made of shrubs or twigs, is still used in stables.BROOM
. [See Bream.]Definition 2024
Broom
broom
broom
English
A man using a broom (utensil for sweeping)
Noun
broom (countable and uncountable, plural brooms)
- (countable) A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
- (countable, curling) An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.
- Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, in the tribe Genisteae, including genera Cytisus, Genista, and Spartium, with long, thin branches and small or few leaves.
- 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 4 scene 1:
- […] and thy broom groves,
- Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
- Being lass-lorn […]
- 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 4 scene 1:
Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from broom (noun)
|
Translations
domestic utensil
|
|
sweeper in curling
Fabaceae shrub
|
Verb
broom (third-person singular simple present brooms, present participle brooming, simple past and past participle broomed)
- (transitive, intransitive) To sweep.
- 1855 September 29, Charles Dickens, "Model Officials", in Household Words: A Weekly Journal, Bradbury and Evens (1856), page 206:
- “[…] Sidi, I was busy in the exercise of my functions, occupied in brooming the front of the stables, when who should come but Hhamed Ould Denéï on horseback, at full gallop, as if he were going to break his neck. […]”
- a. 1857, William Makepeace Thackeray, Our Street, in Christmas Books: Mrs. Perkins's Ball, Our Street, Dr. Birch, Chapman & Hall (1857), Our Street page 8:
- It was but this morning at eight, when poor Molly, was brooming the steps, and the baker paying her by no means unmerited compliments, that my landlady came whirling out of the ground-floor front, and sent the poor girl whimpering into the kitchen.
- a. 1920, Opal Stanley Whiteley, The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart, Atlantic Monthly Press (1920), pages 58–59:
- After that I did take the broom from its place, and I gave the floor a good brooming. I broomed the boards up and down and cross-ways. There was not a speck of dirt on them left.
- 1997, Will Hobbs, Far North (HarperCollins, ISBN 0380725363), page 100:
- We broomed the dirt floor clean with spruce branches, brought our gear inside, and moved in.
- 1855 September 29, Charles Dickens, "Model Officials", in Household Words: A Weekly Journal, Bradbury and Evens (1856), page 206:
Quotations
- For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:broom.
Translations
to sweep
Etymology 2
Verb
broom (third-person singular simple present brooms, present participle brooming, simple past and past participle broomed)
References
- broom in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Anagrams
Dutch
| Chemical element | |
|---|---|
| Br | Previous: seleen (Se) |
| Next: krypton (Kr) | |
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -oːm
Noun
broom n (uncountable)
Estonian
Noun
broom (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])
Declension
This noun needs an inflection-table template.