furze
(fɜːz)
Forms: 1 fyrs, 4–6 firse, (5 virse), 4, 6–7 furs(e, 5 fyrrys, 6 fyrs, 6–7 firr(e)s, firze, (6 fyrze), furres, 7–9 furz, 7–9 dial. fuz, 8 fuzz, 6– furze. Also pl. 4 firsen, fursyn, 5 fyrsyn, 6 fursen, 6–7, 9 dial. furzen, (7 -on), 9 dial. fuzzen. See also fur n.3
[OE. fyrs str. masc.; no connexions are known; the Gr. πράσον, Lat. porrum, leek, might be cognate so far as the form is concerned, but the difference of sense is unfavourable to this supposition. The disyllabic forms fyrrys, firres, etc. seem to have been apprehended as plural, and a new sing. was formed from them: see fur n.3]
1. The popular name of Ulex europæus, a spiny evergreen shrub with yellow flowers, growing abundantly on waste lands throughout Europe. Also named gorse, whin; common furze, great furze or French furze. † Sometimes, a bush or piece of this.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxiii, Swa hwa swa wille sawan westmbære land atio ærest of þa þornas & þa fyrsas. c 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 324 Ramnus, fyrs. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 195 All that herde..weschte that hit weore i-wipet with a wesp of firsen. 1382 Wyclif Micah vii. 4 A palyure, that is, a sharp bushe, or a thistil or frijse [v.r. firse]. 1436 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 498 Pasture, Wode, Hetthe, Virses, and Gorste. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 6 b, All the wode, brome, gorse, fyrs, braken. 1573 Tusser Husb. liii. (1878) 119 With whinnes or with furzes thy houell renew. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 180 Tooth'd briars, sharpe firzes, pricking gosse. a 1626 Breton Daffodils & Primr. (Grosart) 23 Forrestes full of furres and brakes. 1647 Cowley Mistress, Discovery ii, The humble Furzes of the Plain. a 1701 Sedley Virgil's Past. Wks. 1722 I. 296 May I to thee more bitter seem than Rue, More course than Fuz. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 42 Thick with entangling Grass, or prickly Furze. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 192 With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. iv. ii, A broad patch of green heath, covered with furz. 1887 Sir R. H. Roberts In the Shires i. 3 The hounds are making the furze crack and shake in their eager efforts. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. v. Wks. 1856 I. 60 Oh, to have a husband..with a bush of furs on the ridge of his chinne. 1705 Elstob in Hearne Collect. 30 Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 107 From Fuzz and Bramble to the downy beard He whisk'd them off. |
2. In popular names of other plants, as
dwarf furze (
Ulex nanus);
ground furze, the Rest-harrow (
Ononis arvensis);
needle furze (
Genista anglica).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. x. 669 This herbe is called..in Englishe Rest Harrow, Cammocke, Whyn, Pety Whyn, or ground Furze. 1650 Phytologia Brit. 45 Genistella..Needle Furze or Petty Whin. Ibid., Creeping Dwarfe Furze or Whins. 1738 G. C. Deering Catal. Stirp. 89 Needle Furze. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. chiefly attributive, as
furze-bed,
furze-brake,
furze-cover,
furze-croft,
furze-cutter,
furze-down,
furze-faggot,
furze-flower,
furze-hill,
furze-lea,
furze-top,
furze-toppings (
pl.);
furze-clad adj.| 1644 Vicars Jehovah-Jireh 133 His *Furze-bed was the best bed that ever he lay on. |
| 1711 Budgell Spect. No. 116 ¶5, I saw a Hare pop out from a small *Furze-brake. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 38 The higher sides of the hills..are advantageously appropriated for furze-brakes. |
| 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excurs. viii. 370 Upon the skirts Of *furze-clad commons. |
| 1795 Gentl. Mag. June 462 The custom of setting fire to the *furze-covers on midsummer⁓day. |
| 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago I. 63 A green down stretches up to bright yellow *furze-crofts far aloft. |
| 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 45 Here and there a *furze cutter. |
| 1865 Kingsley Herew. I. v. 157 Flat and open *furze-downs. |
| c 1555 in Strype Cranmer 392 One load of *Furs-Fagots. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 355 Laying at the bottom..a range of furse-faggots. |
| 1793 Coleridge Songs of Pixies ii, We sip the *furze-flowers' fragrant dews. |
| 1800 J. Hurdis Fav. Village 174 How elegant yon *furze-hill clothed in gold. |
| 1794 Act Inclosing S. Kelsey 1 *Furze Leas, and Waste Grounds. |
| 1859 W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 126 The action of which effectually bruizes the *Furze-tops intended for Fodder. |
| 1865 Kingsley Herew. II. xx. 347 Who was often glad enough..to rob his own ponies of their *furze-toppings and boil them down for want of kale. |
b. esp. in
furze-bush, also (
obs. and
dial.)
furzen bush.
| 1530 Palsgr. 220/2 Fyrsbusshe, jovmarin. 1600 Heywood 1st Pt. Edw. IV, ii. ii, So many men in the moon, And every one a furzen bush in his mouth. 1644 Vicars Jehovah-Jireh 133 Many other young Gentlemen..lay all that night..upon Furze-bushes on the ground. 1668 J. White Rich Cab. (ed. 4) 51 If you will graft a white rose upon a Broom⁓stalk, or on a furzon bush. 1738 G. C. Deering Catal. Stirp. 89 Genista spinosa minor..The lesser Furze Bush. 1882 Black Shandon Bells xxiii, Miss Patience asked me if I had combed it [my hair] with a furze-bush. |
4. Special comb.:
† furze cat, a name given to the hare;
furze-huck dial., a heap or stack of furze;
furze-owl, a cockchafer;
furze-pig, the hedgehog.
| a 1325 Names of Hare in Rel. Ant. I. 133 The *furse⁓cat. |
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xiii, The *furze-hucks of the summer-time, were all out of shape in the twist of it. |
| 1847–78 Halliwell, *Furze-owl, a cockchafer. Somerset. |
| 1865 Cornh. Mag. July 40 As in Gloucestershire, *‘furse⁓pig’ for hedgehog. |
b. In popular names of various birds, as
furze-chat, the whinchat (
Pratincola rubetra);
furze-chirper,
-chucker, the mountain finch or brambling (
Fringilla montifringilla);
furze-hacker = furze-chat;
furze- (
dial. fuz-)
kite (see
quots.);
furze-lark, the tit-lark (
Anthus pratensis);
furze-wren = furzeling.
| 1839–43 Yarrell Hist. Birds I. 249 The Whinchat, or *Furzechat. |
| 1847–78 Halliwell, *Furze-chirper, the mountain finch. It is also called the *furze-chucker. |
| 1862 J. R. Wise New Forest (1863) 270 The whinchat, known..from its cry, as the ‘*furze hacker’. |
| 1635 R. Brathwait Arcad. Princesse 237 Where choughs and *fuskites built their nest. 1880 W. Cornw. Gloss., Fuz'-kite, the ring-tailed kite. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Vuz-kite, a kestrel. |
| a 1854 Clare MS. Poems in Miss Baker Northants. Gloss., I wept to see the hawk severe Murder the *furze-lark whistling nigh. |
| 1839–43 Yarrell Hist. Birds I. 313 The *Furze Wren. |
Hence
furzed a. [
-ed2], made or covered with furze. Also
ˈfurzeling [
-ling], the Dartford Warbler (
Melizophilus undatus).
| 1855 Ogilvie Supp., Furzeling, Furze-wren, Melizophilus provincialis. 1873 Daily News 21 May 5/5 There are a ditch, a bank with a drop, a kind of furzed fence, and a low wall of turf and stones. 1885 W. Allingham Flower Pieces (1887) 14 Harbours the wren, the furzeling, and the coney. |