broom
an implement for sweeping, consisting of a brush of straw or stiff strands of synthetic material bound tightly to the end of a long handle.
any shrubby plant belonging to the genus Genista or the genus Cytisus, of the legume family, especially C. scoparius, common in Western Europe on uncultivated ground and having long, slender branches bearing yellow flowers.
Building Trades. the crushed and spread part at the head of a wooden pile after driving.
to sweep: Broom the porch.
to splinter or fray mechanically.
to crush and spread the top of (a piling, tent peg, etc.) by pounding or driving with a hammer or the like.
to brush (freshly poured concrete) with a broom to give a nonskid surface, as to walks or driveways.
(of a piling, tent peg, etc.) to be crushed and spread at the top from being driven.
Origin of broom
1pronunciation note For broom
Words Nearby broom
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use broom in a sentence
A photo from the “I Am an American Day” parade depicts a woman on the sidewalk with a broom, and a caption notes that cleanup often started before the event even ended.
At the Smithsonian, a photographic portrait of East Baltimore, decades before the dawn of the selfie era | Kelsey Ables | August 26, 2021 | Washington PostFirst, try offering it a perch to hang from by resting the handle of a broom against wherever it’s hanging.
In this case, slowly carry the broom outside or simply stick the bat-laden handle out an open window.
Before I knew it, I began to hang my mop, duster, broom and more on the hooks on the coat rack.
Hints From Heloise: Car decals give thieves too much information | Heloise Heloise | March 5, 2021 | Washington PostMany critics saw links between her broad strokes — some of them made with brushes so big they invited comparisons to brooms — and the bars of color often used by abstract expressionists.
Toko Shinoda, Japanese artist who merged the age-old and the avant-garde, dies at 107 | Emily Langer | March 4, 2021 | Washington Post
The idea that blends are just “diluted malts” was born and has contributed to its lasting image problem, broom says.
It is the “glue that holds often flaky single malts together,” as broom puts it.
We sat in his dimly lit office—no bigger than a broom closet—where we commiserated over the current state of American medicine.
Silently, he moves to grab a kombo (a whisk broom instrument)—then, softly, he taps her shoulders and head.
The blood rushed to my head, but I only answered, “A new broom sweeps clean.”
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show | Robert W. Chambers | February 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAt last a servant-girl came to the open door with a broom in her hand to survey the aspect of things in general.
The Garret and the Garden | R.M. BallantyneAnd the boy waited with the new broom in his hand, expecting every moment to see the door opened from the outside.
The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler WarnerA broken broom, covered with very ancient cobwebs, lay under one manger, and the remnants of a stable-bucket under another.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. HarperSuddenly Randulf's housekeeper fell upon them with a broom, and the boys scampered away, amidst shouts and laughter.
Skipper Worse | Alexander Lange KiellandIt is easy to see that such moving dams of ice may sweep the bed of a river as with a great broom.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
British Dictionary definitions for broom
/ (bruːm, brʊm) /
an implement for sweeping consisting of a long handle to which is attached either a brush of straw, bristles, or twigs, bound together, or a solid head into which are set tufts of bristles or fibres
any of various yellow-flowered Eurasian leguminous shrubs of the genera Cytisus, Genista, and Spartium, esp C. scoparius
any of various similar Eurasian plants of the related genera Genista and Spartium
new broom a newly appointed official, etc, eager to make changes
(tr) to sweep with a broom
Origin of broom
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with broom
see new broom sweeps clean.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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