See Also: broom(medicine)
broom(dictionary)
broom(encyclopedia)
broom(dictionary)
broom-like(medicine)
green-broom(medicine)
Broom - Curling(gambling)
broom corn(medicine)
Butcher's broom(medicine)
Broom rape(medicine)

xanthorrhoea (iou) and broom (iou)


xanthorrhoea (iou)



xanthorrhoea noun. Also *xanthorrhea. E19.
[from mod. Latin (see below), formed as XANTHO- + -RRHOEA, from the yellow gum exuded at the base of the old leaves.]
Any of various palmlike Australian woody plants constituting the genus Xanthorrhoea (family Xanthorrhoeaceae), popularly called blackboy, grass-tree.

broom (iou)



broom noun & verb. [bru:m]
[Old English brom, corresp. to Middle Low German bram, Middle Dutch brame (Dutch braam), Old High German bramo, brama, from Germanic base also of BRAMBLE noun.]
A. noun.
Any of various chiefly yellow-flowered leguminous shrubs of the genera Cytisus and Genista, esp. the common species C. scoparius of western Eurasia. Also (with specifying word), any of certain Other plants similar to these in use or appearance. OE.
butcher's broom, Spanish broom, sweet broom, etc.
A sweeping-implement, usu. on a long handle, orig. one made of twigs of broom, heather, etc. ME.
new broom fig. a newly appointed person eager to make changes. shovel and broom: see SHOVEL noun 1.
Comb.: broomball (orig. Canad.) a team game similar to ice Hockey in which participants score by pushing a ball into the opponents' goal using brooms; broom-corn N. Amer. a variety of sorghum whose dried inflorescences are used for brooms; broom-grass N. Amer. = broom-sedge below; broom hickory a kind of hickory, Carya glabra, once used for making brooms; also called pignut; broomrape [Latin rapum tuber] a brown leafless plant belonging to the genus Orobanche or a related genus, and growing on the roots of Other plants; broom-sedge N. Amer. any of various coarse grasses, esp. of the genus Andropogon, occas. used for brooms or thatch; broomstaff, pl. -staffs, -staves, a broomstick; broomstick the handle of a broom (allegedly ridden through the air by witches); marry over the broomstick, go through a sham Marriage ceremony in which the parties jump over a broom.
b. verb trans.
= BREAM verb. Only in Dicts. E17.
Sweep with a broom. E19.
broomie noun (Austral. & NZ colloq.) a person who sweeps the floor in a shearing-shed L19.
broomy adjective covered with or having much broom M17.