Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Broom

Broom (bro͞om), n. [OE. brom, brome, AS. brōm; akin to LG. bram, D. brem, OHG. brāmo broom, thorn-bush, G. brombeere blackberry. Cf. Bramble, n.] 1. (Bot.) A plant having twigs suitable for making brooms to sweep with when bound together; esp., the Cytisus scoparius of Western Europe, which is a low shrub with long, straight, green, angular branches, minute leaves, and large yellow flowers.

No gypsy cowered o'er fires of furze and broom. Wordsworth.

2. An implement for sweeping floors, etc., commonly made of the panicles or tops of broom corn, bound together or attached to a long wooden handle; — so called because originally made of the twigs of the broom.

Butcher's broom, a plant (Ruscus aculeatus) of the Smilax family, used by butchers for brooms to sweep their blocks; — called also knee holly. See Cladophyll. — Dyer's broom, a species of mignonette (Reseda luteola), used for dyeing yellow; dyer's weed; dyer's rocket. — Spanish broom. See under Spanish.

Broom, v. t. (Naut.) See Bream.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.