noun
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a broom, esp one made of a bundle of twigs tied to a handle
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curling a broom or brush used to sweep the ice in front of the stone to make it slide farther
verb
noun
Etymology
Origin of besom
before 1000; Middle English besem, Old English bes ( e ) ma; cognate with Dutch bezem, German Besen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her chariot was a mortar, which she pushed with a pestle, using her besom to erase her singular track.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was a flicker like green fire in his eyes, and his beard stood out stiff as a great besom.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Happily, the garden was neglected, otherwise the besom of the gardener would have swept away all traces of the highway they had made.
From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard
The place was a welter of up-rooted trees, logs jammed together in fantastic shapes; it was as if some wanton besom of destruction had swept the narrow rift.
From The Chalice Of Courage A Romance of Colorado by Brady, Cyrus Townsend
He wagged his tail so quickly you could hardly see it; then his tail seemed to wag him, and he quivered all over like a heather besom bewitched.
From The Cruise of the Snowbird A Story of Arctic Adventure by Stables, Gordon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
