wait-a-bit

American  

[weyt-uh-bit] / ˈweɪt əˌbɪt /

noun

1. any of various plants bearing thorns or prickly appendages, as the grapple plant or the greenbrier.

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wait-a-bit British  

noun

1. any of various plants having sharp hooked thorns or similar appendages, esp the greenbrier and the grapple plant

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Etymology

Origin of wait-a-bit

1775–85; translation of Afrikaans wag-'n-bietjie < Dutch wacht een beetje

Example Sentences

Leaving my horse outside, I went into the ravine on the spoor, which I had great difficulty in following, as the briers and wait-a-bit thorns were troublesome to push through.

From Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa by Drayson, A. W. (Alfred Wilks)

We were an odd pair of scallywags to look at, but as South African as a wait-a-bit bush.

From Greenmantle by Buchan, John

Their food consists almost entirely of the thorny branches of the wait-a-bit thorns.

From Forest and Frontiers Or, Adventures Among the Indians by Gordon-Cumming, Roualeyn

He suspected from this that they were some of the Swahilis of the party, and suspicion became certainty when Bill discovered a tiny strip of white cotton on a spike of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush.

From Settlers and Scouts by Strang, Herbert

Having proceeded about ten miles, the country became thickly covered with detached forest trees and groves of wait-a-bit thorns.

From Forest and Frontiers Or, Adventures Among the Indians by Gordon-Cumming, Roualeyn