Word Study
blackthorn
CIDE DICTIONARY
blackthorn, n.
A spreading thorny shrub or small tree (Prunus spinosa ), with blackish bark, and bearing little black plums, which are called sloes; the sloe. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
blackthorn, n.
1 a thorny rosaceous shrub, Prunus spinosa, bearing white-petalled flowers before small blue-black fruits. Also called SLOE.
2 a cudgel or walking-stick made from its wood.
1 a thorny rosaceous shrub, Prunus spinosa, bearing white-petalled flowers before small blue-black fruits. Also called SLOE.
2 a cudgel or walking-stick made from its wood.
Idiom
blackthorn winter the time when the plant flowers, usu. marked by cold NE winds.
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