English Explanatory Dictionary

broom

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
  2. An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.
  3. Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, with long, stiff, thin branches and small or few leaves used for the domestic utensil.
  4. Especially, of the tribe Genisteae, including genera Cytisus, Genista, and Spartium.
  5. Of plants not closely related to those of tribe Genisteae.
  6. A firearm; especially, a shotgun.
verb
  1. To sweep with a broom.
  2. To improve the embedding of a membrane by using a broom or squeegee to smooth it out and ensure contact with the adhesive under the membrane.
  3. To get rid of someone, like firing an employee or breaking up with a girlfriend, to sweep another out of one's life.
verb
  1. Alternative form of bream (“to clean a ship's bottom”).
intj
  1. Alternative form of brrm (“sound of a car engine”) (often used reduplicatively)
name
  1. A number of places in England:
  2. A village in Southill parish, Central Bedfordshire district, Bedfordshire (OS grid ref TL1743).
  3. A hamlet in Long Marton parish, Eden district, Cumbria (OS grid ref NY6623).
  4. A locality in Thorncombe parish, west Dorset, on the boundary with Devon and close to Somerset (OS grid ref ST3202).
  5. A southern suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire (OS grid ref SK4491).
  6. A village in Bidford-on-Avon parish, Stratford-on-Avon district, Warwickshire (OS grid ref SP0853).
  7. A suburb of Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS5556).
  8. A hamlet in Kilgetty/Begelly community, Pembrokeshire, Wales (OS grid ref SN1108).
  9. A surname.

Pronunciation

bro͞om /bɹuːm/ /bɹʊm/ en-us-broom.ogg

Word forms

broom brooms brooming broomed

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English brom, from Old English brōm (“brushwood”), from Proto-West Germanic *brām (“bramble”) (compare Saterland Frisian Brom, West Frisian brem, Dutch braam, German Low German Braam), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, from *bʰer- ‘edge’. Related to brim, brink. Replaced English besom (from Old English besma (“broom, rod”)), which is now restricted in meaning to a particular kind of broom. (shotgun): So called because it is (like the cleaning utensil) long and held similarly to a besom and “cleans” what is in front.

Synonyms

broomstick boomstick firearm gat gun iron piece

Related words

boom

Derived words

a new broom sweeps clean Branton Brimley Bromley broomball broom-bush broom bush broombush broom-clean broom closet broom corn broomcorn broom cupboard broomie brooming broomland broomless broomlike broommaker broommaking broom-rape broomrape broom rape broomsedge broom sedge broom spurge broomstaff broomstick broomtail broom up broom wagon broomware broomweed broomy butcher's broom come out of the broom closet common broom Corsican broom dyer's broom English broom green broom High Brooms new broom Occam's broom push broom pushbroom push-broom scorpion broom Scotch broom Scots broom Spanish broom spiny broom thorny broom trench broom Trigger's broom turpentine broom whiskbroom white Spanish broom witch's broom yellow broom

Translations

Arabic: جَوْلَق Basque: erratz Breton: balan Bulgarian: зановец Catalan: ginesta Cornish: banadhel Cornish: banadhlen Dutch: brem Finnish: vihma Finnish: väriherne Franco-Provençal: argelas French: genêt à balais French: argalou Old French: geneste Old French: genest Galician: xesta Galician: pudia Galician: biorto Galician: piorno German: Ginster Greek: αφάνα Ancient Greek: σπάρτος Hebrew: רותם Hebrew: רֹתֶם Hungarian: rekettye Irish: giolcach shléibhe Italian: ginestra Latin: genista Latin: argilāx Māori: tainoka Māori: taunoka Māori: maukoro Middle English: brom Old English: brōm Polish: janowiec Portuguese: gesta Portuguese: giesta Portuguese: giesteira Romanian: drob Russian: раки́тник Russian: мете́льник Russian: дрок Scots: bruim Scottish Gaelic: bealaidh Scottish Gaelic: sguab Lower Sorbian: chóšć Spanish: retama Spanish: hiniesta Spanish: genista Swedish: ginst Walloon: djiniesse Welsh: banadl
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