broom

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But death also goes through the world dressed as a broom, lapping the floor, looking for dead bodies, death is inside the broom, the broom is the tongue of death looking for corpses, it is the needle of death looking for thread.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun An implement used for sweeping, usually consisting of a bunch of twigs, straw, or bristles bound together and attached to a stick or handle.
  2. noun Any of various Mediterranean shrubs of the genus Cytisus in the pea family, especially C. scoparius, having mostly compound leaves with three leaflets and showy, usually bright yellow flowers.
  3. noun Any of several similar or related shrubs, especially in the genera Genista and Spartium.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples (50)

  • I feel creepy She gathered up her dust cloths and broom, and Hortense went reluctantly with her Do show me the attic, Mary," Hortense pleaded Not to-day," said Mary firmly. —  The Cat in Grandfather's House
  • Yet the blows went home pretty hard, and as the broom was a sort of besom made of the springy ribs of the palm-leaf it stung sharply where it found the naked flesh It is a great indignity to be beaten by the broom of a sweeper, and Piroo, maddened with rage, flew at the throat of his rival. —  Adventures in Many Lands
  • Them's all set edgewise like butcher's broom, and pretty stuff that is But they don't all grow that way Oh yes, they do, sir. —  The Dingo Boys The Squatters of Wallaby Range
  • They grow here a large quantity of what is called the broom corn: the stalk and leaves are similar to the maize or Indian corn, but, instead of the ear, it throws out, at top and on the sides, spiky plumes on which seed is carried. —  Diary in America, Series One
  • He saw a poor boy at a crossing brushing the pavement industriously with an old broom, and then holding out his hand to the people passing by, in hopes that some of them would give him a halfpenny. —  Rollo in Holland
 

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English brōm.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English broom, brom, broom (the plant, Latin genista) (also applied to the tamarisk, Latin myrica), a brush, from Anglo-Saxon brōm = Middle Dutch broem (cf. Middle Low German brām, Low German braam), broom (Latin genista): see bramble.
  2. from broom, n.
 

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/brum/
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