bracken

[brak-uh n]

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.

Origin of bracken

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

Related formsbrack·ened, adjective

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

Related Words for bracken

thicket, scrub, shrubbery, undergrowth, grove, cover, coppice, hedge, copse, dingle, sedge, underwood, brushwood, fern, gorse, bracken, spinney, chaparral, boscage

Examples from the Web for bracken

Historical Examples of bracken

I rung my bell, and desired Mr. Bracken might be sent to me.
Paul Gosslett's Confessions in Love, Law, and The Civil Service
Charles James Lever
I wiped it with a tuft of bracken, and I laughed with something of a bitterness.
Gilian The Dreamer
Neil Munro
Mr. Bracken did not take his hat and mutter that he would be back for dinner.
Mary Rose of Mifflin
Frances R. Sterrett
I thought I'd have to wait until Mrs. Bracken came home to let me out.
Mary Rose of Mifflin
Frances R. Sterrett
Mrs. Bracken slipped across the room and put her hand on his arm.
Mary Rose of Mifflin
Frances R. Sterrett

British Dictionary definitions for bracken

bracken

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

Word Origin and History for bracken

"coarse fern," early 14c., a northern England word from a Scandinavian source (cf. Danish bregne, Swedish bräken "fern").