blackthorn
Americannoun
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a shrub or tree of the genus Crataegus, as C. calpodendron.
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a walking stick made of a blackthorn tree or shrub.
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Also called sloe. a much-branched, thorny, Old World shrub, Prunus spinosa, having white flowers and small plumlike fruits.
noun
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Also called: sloe. a thorny Eurasian rosaceous shrub, Prunus spinosa , with black twigs, white flowers, and small sour plumlike fruits
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a walking stick made from its wood
Etymology
Origin of blackthorn
First recorded in 1350–1400, blackthorn is from Middle English blak thorn. See black, thorn
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.
The holly, blackthorn, hazel and other native species provide corridors for wildlife as well as absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025
And this is intriguing, because magpies typically construct their roofs out of hawthorn, blackthorn, and rose stems.
From National Geographic ● Jul. 17, 2023
The hole has the only tree at Royal St. George’s, a stunted blackthorn right of the green.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2021
Inside were bonsaied blackthorn, clovers and violets; on them, or in the soil below, were hidden hundreds of butterfly eggs and hibernating caterpillars.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 13, 2020
Fiver, however, came over to where Blackberry was lying against the stem of a blackthorn in the hedge.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
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.
