ˈsloe-thorn
Forms: (see quots.); also 9 north. slaa-, Sc. slae-.
[f. sloe n. + thorn n. Cf. MDu. and Du. sleedorn, MLG. and MHG. slêdorn, G. schleh-, † schlee-, † schleh(e)ndorn, Da. slaaentorn.]
The blackthorn. Cf. sloe 2.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. N 119 Nigra spina, slaᵹhðorn. Ibid. S 474 Spina nigra, slahðorn. c 1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 86 Wice, ac, slahþorn, bircean, elebeam. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 163 Le fourder, slo-thorne. c 1450 MS. Sloane 4 fol. 80 The kanker y{supt} bredyth yn the Slo⁓thorne. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado, etc. (1878) 290 Sad Philomela..sung with a pricking slothorne at her brest. 1825 Scott Betrothed xxiii, Small eminences..overgrown with hazel, sloethorn, and other dwarf shrubs. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 404 A dreary moor, bristling with furze and sloe-thorn. |
| attrib. c 1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 98 Nim þonne apuldor rinde,..slahþorn rinde, & wir rinde. 1804 Grahame Sabbath (1808) 62 He hid beneath the milk-white sloe-thorn spray. 1815 Scott Guy M. iii, She..had in her hand a goodly sloethorn cudgel. |