gorsen.
/ɡɔːs/, U.S. /ɡɔrs/ 1. The prickly shrub Ulex europæus; common furze or whin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > thorn-tree or -bush > [noun] > gorse or furze
gorsec725
furzec888
whinc1400
fur1440
quice tree1440
whin-bush1483
furzen bush1530
thorn-broom1578
thorny broom1597
fursell1639
dwarf furze1650
French furze1659
ulex1753
c725 Corpus Gloss. 97 Aegesta, gors.
c725 Corpus Gloss. 2162 Voluma, gorst.
c975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. vii. 16 Ah he somnigaþ of þornum winbegęr oþþe of gorstum ficos.
c1050 Martyrol. (E.E.T.S.) 146 On wildu hors þæt þa hine drogon on gorstas ond on þornas.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness l. 99 Waytez gorstez & greuez, if ani gomez lyggez.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Isa. lv. 13 A fir tre schal grow for a gorst [ether firse].
1485 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1883) II. 400 Wodde, gorstes, brome, or any oder thing growyng.
1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng vi. f. 6v Yet may he laufully fall and selle all the wode, brome, gorse, fyrs..and suche other.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry ii. f. 90v The branches are full of prickles as the Gorst is.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 180 Tooth'd briars, sharpe firzes, pricking gosse, & thorns. View more context for this quotation
a1635 R. Corbet Iter Boreale (1647) 342 Loe where Richmond in a bed of gorsse Encampt himself orenight, and all his force.
1692 Act 4 Will. & Mary c. 23 §9 No person..shall presume to burne between the second day of February and Twenty fourth of June any Grig Ling Heath Furz Gosse or Ferne.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 528 The common overgrown with fern, and rough With prickly goss.
1808 W. Scott Marmion iii. i. 134 Sprung from the gorse the timid roe.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany iii. 23 I class gorse among the crops, because it is regularly sown..as winter food for horses.
1878 Fraser's Mag. 18 595 Where gorses gleam with golden smile.
1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 62 Grand level stretches of gorse and brushwood.
2. = juniper n.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > conifers > junipers > [noun]
gorsec1000
savinOE
juniper-treea1382
junipera1400
quickena1400
juniperinec1430
cade1575
jeniver1585
melmot1644
oxycedar1646
red cedar1682
cover-shame1694
Bermuda cedar1700
pencil cedar1785
sharp cedar1840
Rocky Mountain juniper1852
tuckamore1863
tucking-bush1890
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > tree or plant producing edible berries > juniper bush
gorsec1000
juniper-treea1382
junipera1400
quickena1400
juniperinec1430
jeniver1585
c1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 72 Iuniperi þæt is gorst.
a1300 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 558/14 Iuniperii, i. geneiure, i. gorst.
1879 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 214 Gorst... Juniperus communis.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. Simple attributive.
(a)
gorse-bud n.
ΚΠ
1861 G. H. Kingsley in F. Galton Vacation Tourists & Trav. 1860 143 We have..the crackling of the gorse-buds..to tell us that nature never sleeps.
gorse-bush n.
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1813 Examiner 26 Apr. 260/2 They..threw him into a gorse-bush.
gorse-common n.
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1861 G. H. Kingsley in F. Galton Vacation Tourists & Trav. 1860 143 A gorse common, baking in the summer sun.
gorse-cover n.
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1780 in Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs (1883) Introd. 21 At this meeting a fox was found for the first time in the new gorse cover.
gorse-covert n.
gorse-fence n.
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1895 Daily News 18 May 8/6 About five-and-twenty horses entered the ring to begin, but after a big ordeal over gorse fences..this number was reduced to seven.
gorse-hedge n.
ΚΠ
1888 F. Hume Madame Midas i. iii. 28 Divided into fields by long rows of gorse hedges.
gorse-tree n.
ΚΠ
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 204/1 Gorstys tre..supra in Fyrrys.
(b) Used for clearing land of gorse.
gorse-knife n.
ΚΠ
1907 ‘G. B. Lancaster’ Tracks we Tread vi. 80 Randal kicked aside his gorse-knife—he had been cutting brush in the gully beyond.
gorse-slasher n.
ΚΠ
1938 ‘R. Hyde’ Nor Years Condemn xiv. 253 We..were given grubbers and gorse-slashers.
b. Instrumental.
gorse-covered adj.
gorse-grown adj.
ΚΠ
1850 R. S. Surtees Soapey Sponge's Sporting Tour lvii, in New Monthly Mag. Nov. 364 They now got..into a very rushy, squashy, gorse-grown pasture.
C2.
gorse-bird n. the common linnet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > subfamily Carduelinae > genus Acanthis > acanthus cannabina (linnet)
lintwhitec725
lenard1530
linnetc1530
linnet-bird1570
lintiea1831
whin-linnet1837
gorse-linnet1848
gorse-bird1885
linnet-finch1890
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 65 Linnet... From its frequenting downs and open moors abounding in furze or whin, it is called—Gorse bird, Gorse hatcher, Gorse thatcher,..Gorse linnet.
gorse-chat n. local names for the whinchat, stonechat, wheatear, and linnet.
ΚΠ
1848 Zoologist 6 2290 In G[loucestershire] it [the stonechat] is the gorsechat.
gorse-duck n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1848 Zoologist 6 2290 The landrail..in the more western part a ‘gurs’ or ‘gors duck’.
gorse-hatch n. = gorse-chat n.
ΚΠ
1848 Zoologist 6 2137 Gorse-hatch, or ‘gorse-hatcher’ [applied to the female and young of the wheatear].
gorse-hatcher n. = gorse-chat n.
ΚΠ
1848 Zoologist 6 2137 Gorse-hatch, or ‘gorse-hatcher’ [applied to the female and young of the wheatear].
gorse-kid n. a bundle of gorse.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > thorn-tree or -bush > [noun] > gorse or furze > heap of
gorse-kid1661
furze-huck1869
1661 P. Henry Diaries & Lett. (1882) 79 Two hundred of Gorse kids [printed Goose Kids] cost 6s. 8d.
1885 Daily News 1 Dec. 2/1 I hope nobody knows what it is to sit down recklessly on a gorsekid.
gorse-linnet n. = gorse-bird n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > subfamily Carduelinae > genus Acanthis > acanthus cannabina (linnet)
lintwhitec725
lenard1530
linnetc1530
linnet-bird1570
lintiea1831
whin-linnet1837
gorse-linnet1848
gorse-bird1885
linnet-finch1890
1848 Zoologist 6 2258 The linnet is a ‘gorse linnet’, a ‘grey linnet’.
1896 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Great Brit. 45 The gorse-bushes being such a favourite nesting place that in many places the bird is known as the ‘Gorse’ Linnet.
gorse-thatcher n. = gorse-chat n.
ΚΠ
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 65 Linnet... From its frequenting downs and open moors abounding in furze or whin, it is called—Gorse bird, Gorse hatcher, Gorse thatcher,..Gorse linnet.
Derivatives
gorsed adj. topped with gorse.
ΚΠ
1870 Daily News 6 June He [a horse]..showed the way over the gorsed hurdles, jumping readily from the hand.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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