broom bush

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See also: broom-bush and broombush

English[edit]

Genista monspessulana (sense 1)
Melaleuca uncinata (sense 2)

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

broom +‎ bush

Noun[edit]

broom bush (countable and uncountable, plural broom bushes)

  1. Various taxa of Genisteae traditionally used to make brooms.
    • 1791, James Boswell, “[1773]”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. [], volume I, London: [] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, [], →OCLC, page 429:
      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.
  2. Melaleuca uncinata, a plant in the paperbark family, native to southern Australia.
    • 1889, Ernest Giles, Australia Twice Traversed[1]:
      For about twenty-five miles we traversed an entirely open plain, similar to that just described, and mostly covered with the waving broom bushes; []

Further reading[edit]