besom

From Middle English besme, beseme, from Old English besma, besema (“besom, broom, rod”), from Proto-Germanic *besamô (“broom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰes- (“to rub off, grind, sprinkle”). Cognate with Scots besom, bisom (“a sweeping implement, broom”), West Frisian biezem (“broom”), Dutch bezem (“broom”), Low German bessen (“broom”), German Besen (“broom”).

Traditional besom.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiː.zəm/

besom (plural besoms)

1. A broom made from a bundle of twigs tied onto a shaft.
   • 1851, “A Few Words about War and the Peace Congress.”, in Littell’s Living Age, volume 28, page 364:

     "The march of an army through a conquered country supposing it to be a highly civilized one, is a besom of destruction, whose havoc, moral and material, it would take at least a century to recover."

2. (Scotland, Northern England, derogatory) A troublesome woman.
   • 1903, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Dark O' the Moon: A Novel, page 130:

     "Eh, but she was a besom, if a' tales be true !"

   • 1917, A.S. Neill., A Dominie Dismissed, page 10:

     Janet's eyes began to look dim, and I had to frown at her very hard; then I had to turn my frown on Jean ... and Janet, the besom, took advantage of my divided attention.

   • 1963, Margaret McLean MacPherson, The Shinty Boys, page 187:

     Uncle Angus went on about the behavior of the car. "She's a besom, a proper besom, her and her gears. She'll be the death of me yet one of these days."

   • 2013, Nora Kay, Best Friends:

     "She's a besom but no' bad at times, like now," Agnes said as she bit into a dough-ring.

3. Any cleansing or purifying agent.

• besom pocket

• besom broom on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

besom (third-person singular simple present besoms, present participle besoming, simple past and past participle besomed)

1. (archaic, poetic) To sweep.
   • 1954, Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood, page 13,

     Now, in her iceberg-white, holily laundered crinoline nightgown, under virtuous polar sheets, in her spruced and scoured dust-defying bedroom in trig and trim Bay View, a house for paying guests at the top of the town, Mrs Ogmore-Prichard widow, twice, of Mr Ogmore, linolium, retired, and Mr Prichard, failed bookmaker, who maddened by besoming, swabbing and scrubbing, the voice of the vacuum-cleaner and the fume of polish, ironically swallowed disinfectant...

• mebos, mobes