blackthorn

[ blak-thawrn ]

noun
  1. a shrub or tree of the genus Crataegus, as C. calpodendron.

  2. a walking stick made of a blackthorn tree or shrub.

  1. Also called sloe. a much-branched, thorny, Old World shrub, Prunus spinosa, having white flowers and small plumlike fruits.

Origin of blackthorn

1
First recorded in 1350–1400, blackthorn is from Middle English blak thorn. See black, thorn

Words Nearby blackthorn

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use blackthorn in a sentence

  • Hugh had for many years been watching over the growth of a young blackthorn sapling.

  • Mr. Gano stopped meditatively, and struck his blackthorn into the gray "MacAdam" powder.

    The Open Question | Elizabeth Robins
  • So I got down and drew this wattle from the side of a turf creel,—you see it is a strong blackthorn, and good stuff too.

  • Garry's Hill stood in a field, at the bottom of which was a blackthorn fence among whose roots dwelt a colony of brown rats.

    Lives of the Fur Folk | M. D. Haviland
  • Sir Peter's gnarled old hands met above his blackthorn stick and trembled.

    The Dark Tower | Phyllis Bottome

British Dictionary definitions for blackthorn

blackthorn

/ (ˈblækˌθɔːn) /


noun
  1. Also called: sloe a thorny Eurasian rosaceous shrub, Prunus spinosa, with black twigs, white flowers, and small sour plumlike fruits

  2. a walking stick made from its wood

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012