gorse
(gɔːs)
Forms: 1–6, 9 dial. gorst, (1, 9 dial. gors, gost), 6–7 gorsse, 7 gosse, 7–9 goss, (9 gorz(e, dial. gurs), 6– gorse. Also pl. 1 gorstas, 4 -ez, 5 -es, 6 gorsses, 9 gorses.
[OE. gorst (gors, gost):—Indogermanic type *ghr̥zdo-, whence L. hordeum barley; cf. the ablaut-variant G. gerst barley. The root-notion of something bristly or prickly is applicable to both plants.]
1. The prickly shrub Ulex europæus; common furze or whin.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 97 Aegesta, gors. Ibid. 2162 Voluma, gorst. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. vii. 16 Ah he somniᵹaþ of þornum winbeᵹęr oþþe of gorstum ficos. c 1050 Martyrol. (E.E.T.S.) 146 On wildu hors þæt þa hine droᵹon on gorstas ond on þornas. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 99 Waytez gorstez & greuez, if ani gomez lyggez. 1388 Wyclif Isa. lv. 13 A fir tre schal grow for a gorst [ether firse]. 1485 Nottingham Rec. II. 400 Wodde, gorstes, brome, or any oder thing growyng. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 6 b, Yet may he laufully fall and selle all the wode, brome, gorse, fyrs..and suche other. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 91 b, The branches are full of prickles as the Gorst is. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 180 Tooth'd briars, sharpe firzes, pricking gosse, & thorns. a 1635 Corbet Iter Bor. (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. 1784 Cowper Task i. 528 The common overgrown with fern, and rough With prickly goss. 1808 Scott Marm. iii. i, Sprung from the gorse the timid roe. 1859 Jephson Brittany iii. 23, I class gorse among the crops, because it is regularly sown..as winter food for horses. 1878 Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 595 Where gorses gleam with golden smile. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 62 Grand level stretches of gorse and brushwood. |
2. = juniper.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 72 Iuniperi þæt is gorst. c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 558/14 Iuniperii, geneiure, gorst. 1879 Britten & Holland Plant-n. 214 Gorst... Juniperus communis. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
gorse-bud,
gorse-bush,
gorse-common,
gorse-cover,
gorse-covert,
gorse-fence,
gorse-hedge,
gorse-tree;
gorse-knife,
gorse-slasher: used for clearing land of gorse.
b. instrumental, as
gorse-covered,
gorse-grown. Also
gorse-bird,
-linnet, the common linnet;
gorse-chat,
-hatch,
-hatcher,
-thatcher, local names for the whinchat, stonechat, wheatear, and linnet;
gorse-duck (see
quot.);
gorse-kid, a bundle of gorse.
| 1885 Swainson Prov. Names 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. |
| 1860 G. H. K. in Vac. Tour. 143 We have..the crackling of the *gorse-buds..to tell us that nature never sleeps. |
| 1813 Examiner 26 Apr. 260/2 They..threw him into a *gorse-bush. |
| 1848 Zoologist VI. 2290 In G[loucestershire] it [the stonechat] is the *gorsechat. |
| 1860 G. H. K. in Vac. Tour. 143 A *gorse common, baking in the summer sun. |
| 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. |
| 1848 Zoologist VI. 2290 The landrail..in the more western part a ‘gurs’ or ‘*gors duck’. |
| 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. |
| 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 311 They now got..into a very rushy, squashy, *gorse-grown pasture. |
| 1848 Zoologist VI. 2137 *Gorse-hatch, or ‘gorse-hatcher’ [applied to the female and young of the wheatear]. |
| 1888 F. Hume Mad. Midas i. iii, Divided into fields by long rows of *gorse hedges. |
| 1661 P. Henry Diaries (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. |
| 1907 ‘G. B. Lancaster’ Tracks we Tread vi. 80 Randal kicked aside his *gorse-knife—he had been cutting brush in the gully beyond. |
| 1848 Zoologist VI. 2258 The linnet is a ‘*gorse linnet’, a ‘grey linnet’. 1896 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. 45 The gorse-bushes being such a favourite nesting place that in many places the bird is known as the ‘Gorse’ Linnet. |
| 1938 ‘R. Hyde’ Nor Years Condemn xiv. 253 We..were given grubbers and *gorse-slashers. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 204/1 *Gorstys tre..supra in Fyrrys. |
Hence
gorsed ppl. a., topped with gorse.
| 1870 Daily News 6 June, He [a horse]..showed the way over the gorsed hurdles, jumping readily from the hand. |