bracken

[ brak-uh n ]

/ ˈbræk ən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bracken ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a large fern or brake, especially Pteridium aquilinum.

a cluster or thicket of such ferns; an area overgrown with ferns and shrubs.

Nearby words

brachyuran, brachyurous, bracing, bracingly, braciola, bracken, bracket, bracket clock, bracket creep, bracket foot, bracket fungi

Origin of bracken

1275–1325; Middle English braken < Scandinavian; compare Swedish bräken fern, Norwegian brake juniper

Related forms

brack·ened, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bracken

Tall trees interlaced their branches overhead and the ground was carpeted with fern and bracken.
The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson|Laura Dent Crane
A myriad rabbits were diving madly into the bracken on every side.
The White Blackbird|Hudson Douglas
Brambles were heavy with blue-black berries, and the bracken was battered and brown on the steep hill-side.
The Beth Book|Sarah Grand
The men who take part in the lonely trade live in rude huts in the woods, thatched with heather and bracken.
Poachers and Poaching|John Watson

Bracken's chauffeur lay senseless by the roadside, and one of the "detectives" sat in his seat.
The Daughter of Anderson Crow|George Barr McCutcheon

British Dictionary definitions for bracken

bracken

/ (ˈbrækən) /

noun

Also called: brake any of various large coarse ferns, esp Pteridium aquilinum, having large fronds with spore cases along the undersides and extensive underground stems

a clump of any of these ferns

Word Origin for bracken

C14: of Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish bräken, Danish bregne

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