▪ I. besom, n.
(biːzəm)
Forms: 1–2 besma, 1 besema, 3–4 besem, 3–5 besme, 4 beesme, bisme, 4–5 besum, 5 besumme, bessume, besowme, 5–7 besome, 6 bysom, beasome, bessem, 6–8 beesom(e, 7 beesum, beasom, (6 Sc. boosome, 7 bissome, 9 dial. bezom, bizzim, buzzom), 5– besom.
[Com. WGer.: OE. besema, besma (= OFris. besma, OHG. besamo, MHG. besme, besem, mod.G. besen, Du. bezem):—OTeut. *besmon- (not found in EGer.). Ulterior derivation obscure.]
† 1. A bundle of rods or twigs used as an instrument of punishment; a birch. Obs. (L. fascis.)
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. ii. iii. §2 He..hy..het ᵹebindan, and..mid besman swingan. a 1225 St. Marher. 5 [He] strupeth hire steorcnaket..ant beateth hire bare bodi with bittere besmen. a 1225 Juliana 16 Þu schalt beon ibeaten mid besmes. |
2. An implement for sweeping, usually made of a bunch of broom, heather, birch, or other twigs bound together round a handle; a broom. (Dialectally, as in Scotland, the generic name for sweeping implements of any material,
e.g. a
heather,
birch, or
broom besom, a
hair besom; but in literary
Eng. ‘broom’ is now generic, and ‘besom’ specific.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xii. 44 He ᵹemet hyt æmtiᵹ, and ᵹeclænsod mid besmum [v.r. besemum]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 87 Mid beseme clene swopen. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xii. 44 Clensid with bismes [1388 besyms]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clix. (1495) 708 Of the bowes and braunches of the byrche ben besomes made. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 33 Besme or besowme [1499 besym], scopa. 1493 Churchw. Acc. Walberswicke, Suffolk (Nichols, 1797) 185 A bessume of pekoks fethers. 1552 Huloet, Beasome, Loke in browme. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 309 There is no more difference betweene them, then betweene a Broome, and a Beesome. 1641 H. Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 104 Wee make the miller take a besome and sweepe a place. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece ii. iii. (1715) 208 He swept the Temple with a Beasom of Lawrel. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 51 The..bath is scrubbed all over with a birchen beesom. 1857 Bohn Handbk. Prov., There is little for the rake after the besom. |
3. fig. Any agent that cleanses, purifies, or sweeps away things material or immaterial.
| c 1380 Wyclif De Papa Wks. (1880) 468 Ȝif he & his secte be..clensid wiþ besumms. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. xlviii, Swepe thy soule clene wyth the besome of the drede of god. 1611 Bible Isa. xiv. 23, I will sweepe it with the besome of destruction. 1639 Fuller Holy War i. xix. (1840) 35 The riuer Kishon, God's besom to sweep away Sisera's great army. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iii. ix. 139 With steel-besom, Rascality is brushed back into its dim depths. 1862 Tyndall Mountaineer. iv. 30 Grandly the cloud-besom swept the mountains. |
4. fig. Anything resembling a besom in shape;
spec. applied to a comet.
| 1566 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 254 A comet..called ‘The fyrie boosome.’ a 1639 Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. ii. (1677) 94 A Comet of that kind which..the vulgars [call] a firie Bissome. |
5. Applied dialectally to heath and broom, plants used for besoms. (
Cf. broom, in its two senses.)
| 1796 Marshall Econ. W. Devon. (E.D.S.), Beesom, bizzom, spartium scoparium, the broom plant. 1864 E. Capern Devon Prov., Bizzim, Heath. 1878 Britten Plant-n. 26 Basam, Basom, Bassam or Bisom, Sarothamnus scoparius. |
6. Comb. and
attrib., as
besom-handle,
besom-staff, etc.; also
besom-head,
fig. a foolish or stupid person, a blockhead, whence
besom-headed;
besom-heath, heath used for making besoms;
besom-rider, a witch, from the popular notion that they rode on broom-sticks;
besom-tail, a tail formed like a besom, a bushy tail, whence
besom-tailed;
besom-weed = besom 5.
| 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss. s.v. Bezom, ‘He's as fond as a bezom,’ or ‘*bezom-headed,’ very foolish indeed. |
| 1756 Phil. Trans. XLIX. 829 Erica brabantica..Low Dutch Heath, or *Besom Heath. |
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 161 Defaming them for *Beesom-riders or witches. |
| 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1356/4 Lost or stolen..one of the King's Setting Dogs..a long *beesum tail. |
| 1695 ― No. 3086/4 A dark Iron grey Mare..Silver Eyed, and *Besome Tailed. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 628 *Bessem weede, or the herbe serving for Bysoms. |
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. iii. 368 By a Witch-bridle they can make a fair of horses of an acre of *besome-weed. |
7. A contemptuous or jocular designation for a woman.
Sc. and
dial. (Pronounced
ˈbɪzəm; also
† ˈbʌzəm).
| 1808–1929 in Sc. Nat. Dict. 1816 Scott Old Mort. viii, To set up to be sae muckle better than ither folk, the auld besom. 1930 J. Buchan Castle Gay xvi. 255 She's a determined besom. 1936 W. Holtby South Riding v. i. 276 Gosh! The little besom! |
▪ II. ˈbesom, v. [f. besom n. Cf. to brush.] † 1. intr. To sweep with force or violence.
Obs.| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3662 The..wynde owte of the weste rysses, Brethly bessomes with byrre in berynes sailles. |
2. trans. To sweep. Often with
away,
out, etc.
| 1791 Cowper Odyss. xxii. 526 They cleansed The thrones and tables, while Telemachus Beesom'd the floor. 1842 Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets 13 Besom away the thick dust which lies upon their heavy folios. 1866 Kingsley Herew. xix. 244 He would besom you all out. |