broom
UK /bɹuːm/ · US /bɹum/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of vroom
Forms brooms brooming broomed
- noun (countable) A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
- noun (countable, curling) An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.
- noun 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.
- noun Especially, of the tribe Genisteae, including genera Cytisus, Genista, and Spartium.
- noun Of plants not closely related to those of tribe Genisteae.
- noun (slang, rare) A firearm; especially, a shotgun.
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To sweep with a broom.
- verb (roofing) 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.
- verb (figurative) To get rid of someone, like firing an employee or breaking up with a girlfriend, to sweep another out of one's life.
- proper noun A village in Southill parish, Central Bedfordshire district, Bedfordshire (OS grid ref TL1743).
- proper noun A hamlet in Long Marton parish, Eden district, Cumbria (OS grid ref NY6623).
- proper noun A locality in Thorncombe parish, west Dorset, on the boundary with Devon and close to Somerset (OS grid ref ST3202).
- proper noun A southern suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire (OS grid ref SK4491).
- proper noun A village in Bidford-on-Avon parish, Stratford-on-Avon district, Warwickshire (OS grid ref SP0853).
- proper noun A suburb of Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS5556).
- proper noun A hamlet in Kilgetty/Begelly community, Pembrokeshire, Wales (OS grid ref SN1108).
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
broomstick boomstick firearm gat gun iron piece heather ling Scots heather Calluna vulgaris sweep
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A plant having twigs suitable for making brooms to sweep with when bound together; esp., the Cytisus scoparius of Western Europe, which is a low shrub with long, straight, green, angular branches, mintue leaves, and large yellow flowers.
- noun An implement for sweeping floors, etc., commonly made of the panicles or tops of broom corn, bound together or attached to a long wooden handle; --so called because originally made of the twigs of the broom. Butcher's broom, a plant (Ruscus aculeatus) of the Smilax family, used by butchers for brooms to sweep their blocks; --called also knee holly. See Cladophyll.
- verb See Bream.
Etymology [OE. brom, brome, AS. brom; akin to LG. bram, D. brem, OHG. bramo broom, thornbrombeere blackberry. Cf. Bramble, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “broom”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details