bracken

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In Scotland, again, glens or copses, often the haunts of wild deer, are green with a thick growth of bracken A well-known writer, who lives where ferns abound, says that the bracken is the fern of ferns in the British Islands.

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Definitions (6)

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  1. noun A widespread, often weedy fern (Pteridium aquilinum) having large, triangular, pinnately compound fronds and often forming dense thickets.
  2. noun An area overgrown with this fern.

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Examples (50)

  • The bracken, as we climbed, was already high, but we managed to find the markers which charted The Way and, in any case, I had a map. —  Cold, Lone and Still - Gladys Mitchell - Bradley 64
  • Hullo! Where are you?--It's all right; no soldiers near There was a faint rustling then amongst the bracken, and the stranger's head was slowly raised some thirty yards away Waller hurried to him What made you change your place?" —  The New Forest Spy
  • The uproar put life into a few more clumps of red bracken, and produced a lively display of sheep and cattle throughout the region Barret walked straight up to the door of the hut, and the collies withdrew from the attack--as most noisy demonstrators do when treated with silent indifference Is there any one inside?" —  The Eagle Cliff
  • Come On the dry bracken, a little way from the roadside, he spread his coat to make a resting-place for her Now," she cried, "tell me This is not right, Helen," and then I care not for right," she cried, and her laughing came again, but he waved her words aside It will be only days now and you will be the wife of Hugh No--no--no," she clasped her arms round herself. —  The McBrides A Romance of Arran
  • The first sound I heard was the squeal of a beast caught at the throat among the bracken, then a hind snored among the grass. —  Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English braken, probably of Scandinavian origin; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English braken, brakan, etc., a northern form, Scots bracken, brechan, breckan, brecken, braikin; of Scandinavian origin: from Swedish bräken = Danish bregne, fern, bracken; cf. Icelandic burkni, fern; Anglo-Saxon bracce, fern: see brake.
 

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/ˈbrækən/
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