whitethorn
(ˈhwaɪtθɔːn)
Also with hyphen, or (now rarely) as two words.
[white a. and thorn n., after L. alba spina (whence F. aubépine); so MHG. wîȥdorn (G. weissdorn).]
The common hawthorn, Cratægus Oxyacantha: so called from the lighter colour of its bark as compared with that of the blackthorn.
In U.S. applied to C. coccinea, a species or variety with scarlet fruit.
| c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 559/25 Bedagrage, i. spina alba, i. witþorn. 1382 Wyclif Baruch vi. 70 A whijt thorn, vpon whiche eche bridde sittith. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxvi. (Bodl. MS.), Þese treen..haue prickes as a white þorne. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §124 Gette thy quyckesettes in the woode-countreye, and let theym be of whyte-thorne and crabtree. 1637 Milton Lycidas 48 When first the White thorn blows. 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 150 To be more sure of a strong Fence, White-thorn may be made every second Plant. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. iii. II. 168 While round about the white-thorn shed Sweet fragrance. 1870 Kingsley At Last v, The Bauhinias, like tall and ancient white-thorns, which shade the road. |
| attrib. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 73 Matthiolus holdeth y{supt} our haw tre or whyte thorne tre is Oxyacantha. 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xvi. 243 White-Thorns will not prosper set in the Gaps of a White-Thorn Hedge. 1813 Ann. Reg., Chron. 74 He struck her so violently with a white-thorn stick..that she fell to the ground. 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 45 Or short note of the changing thrush Above him in the white-thorn bush. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 105 The caterpillars of the white-thorn butterfly (Papilio cratægi)..had..stripped all the hedges. 1885 Pater Marius I. xiv. 248 The torch of white-thorn-wood. |