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
They advanced, whilst the caliph, without showing himself, put forth his hand from behind the tapestry that hung before the door, and demanded of them the besom.
From Shorter Novels, Eighteenth Century The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia; The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story; Vathek, an Arabian Tale by Beckford, William
Nothing escapes from the besom of his allusiveness, and the style is streaked and pied, almost to monotony, by the accumulation of lively details.
From Modern Essays by Ayres, Harry Morgan
That a nameless besom, picked up from the roadside in the middle of the night, should have the face to speak to me like that!
From A Duel by Marsh, Richard
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.
