Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genera Rhamnus and Frangula, including several ornamentals, medicinal species such as the cascara buckthorn, and the invasive species R. cathartica.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the southern United States any species of the genus Bumelia, particularly B. lycioides.
  • noun The popular name of species of Rhamnus (which see).
  • noun A local English name of the haddock: chiefly applied to dried haddock.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A genus (Rhamnus) of shrubs or trees. The shorter branches of some species terminate in long spines or thorns. See rhamnus.
  • noun a plant of the genus Hippophaë.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees of the genus Rhamnus, especially the common buckthorn or purging buckthorn; Rhamnus cathartica.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an Old World plantain with long narrow ribbed leaves widely established in temperate regions
  • noun a shrub or shrubby tree of the genus Rhamnus; fruits are source of yellow dyes or pigments
  • noun any shrub or small tree of the genus Bumelia

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Translation of New Latin cervī spīna : cervī, genitive of cervus, deer, buck + spīna, thorn.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

buck +‎ thorn

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Examples

  • Cascara, also called buckthorn, works by stimulating the lining of the upper intestines to promote normal bowel function.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Cascara, also called buckthorn, works by stimulating the lining of the upper intestines to promote normal bowel function.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Cascara, also called buckthorn, works by stimulating the lining of the upper intestines to promote normal bowel function.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Cascara, also called buckthorn, works by stimulating the lining of the upper intestines to promote normal bowel function.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Sometimes volunteers pull weeds at events called buckthorn busts.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • Sometimes volunteers pull weeds at events called buckthorn busts.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • Fingering blame on the not - so-natural causes is made challenging by the many suspects: An invasive plant called buckthorn, a large population of deer after decades in which they were absent, the effects of development all around the bog and the intrusive behaviour of people both in the bog and around its edges.

    London Free Press - News 2009

  • Since 1945, an invasive plant called buckthorn has taken over 60 per cent of the swamp that surrounds the bog, aerial studies show.

    London Free Press - News 2009

  • Fingering blame on the not - so-natural causes is made challenging by the many suspects: An invasive plant called buckthorn, a large population of deer after decades in which they were absent, the effects of development all around the bog and the intrusive behaviour of people both in the bog and around its edges.

    London Free Press - News 2009

  • "If buckthorn-control is not started immediately, the entire swamp could be classified as a buckthorn thicket and the invasion of buckthorn on the open bog mat advanced," Bergsma and Quinlan warn.

    London Free Press - News 2009

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