whin

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

whin, n. [W. chwyn weeds, a single weed.].

•  Gorse; furze. See Furze.  [1913 Webster]

  "Through the whins, and by the cairn."  [1913 Webster]
•  Same as Whinstone.  [1913 Webster]

Moor whin or Petty whin (Bot.), a low prickly shrub (Genista Anglica) common in Western Europe. -- Whin bruiser, a machine for cutting and bruising whin, or furze, to feed cattle on. -- Whin Sparrow (Zoöl.), the hedge sparrow. [Prov. Eng.] -- Whin Thrush (Zoöl.), the redwing. [Prov. Eng.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

whin, n. (in sing. or pl.) furze, gorse.

whin, n.
1 hard dark esp. basaltic rock or stone.
2 a piece of this.

Etymology

ME: orig. unkn.

ROGET THESAURUS

whin

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.