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.

---

wait-a-bit British  

noun

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

---

Etymology

Origin of wait-a-bit

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

Example Sentences

The black rhinoceros feeds on a species of thorn known in Cape Colony as wait-a-bit, which gives it a somewhat acrid and bitter flavour.

From In the Wilds of Africa by Pearse, Alfred

At this moment a cow rhinoceros of the same species, with her calf, charged out of some wait-a-bit thorn cover, and stood right in my path.

From Thrilling Adventures by Land and Sea by Brayman, James O.

In the conflict I had lost my shirt, which was reduced to streamers by the wait-a-bit thorns, and all the clothing that remained was a pair of buckskin knee-breeches.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. by Various

The wheels also were locked, and the space between the ground and the bed-planks of the waggons was stuffed with branches of the "wait-a-bit" thorn that fortunately grew near in considerable quantities.

From Allan's Wife by Haggard, Henry Rider

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)