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.
However, there were sightings of the species in hawthorn and blackthorn trees on the edge of London in June 2023.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
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
Eight metre-wide blackthorn hedges spill into flowery meadows.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 3, 2017
Somehow Harry connected these unsatisfying, vague images with the destruction of his wand, as if it was the blackthorn wand’s fault that he could no longer see into Voldemort’s mind as well as before.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
