broomstick
English
Alternative forms
- broom-stick
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɹum.stɪk/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Noun
broomstick (plural broomsticks)
- The handle of a broom (sweeping tool).
- A broom imbued with magic, enabling one to fly astride the handle.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 106:
- Witches of all ages attended these lively gatherings by flying away on their broomsticks[.]
- 1999, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, →ISBN:
- Harry ripped the parcel open and gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out onto his bedspread. [...] It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Harry had gone to see every day in Diagon Alley.
- 2002, Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad, page 97:
- Greebo, hiccuping occasionally, oozed into his accustomed place among the bristles of Nanny’s broomstick. As they rose above the forest a thin plume of smoke also rose from the castle.
- (military slang) A controlstick of an airplane.[1]
- (slang, rare) A gun.
- 2020 January 19, Sin Squad & Mloose (lyrics and music), “Don't Ride Back”:
- Gangdem known for the shootings, go ask Ramz – got whooshed with a broomstick.
Derived terms
- broomsticking
- broomstickless
- broomsticklike
- marry over the broomstick
Translations
the handle of a broom
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a broom imbued with magic
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Verb
broomstick (third-person singular simple present broomsticks, present participle broomsticking, simple past and past participle broomsticked)
- (intransitive) To fly on a broomstick, as witches are said to.
- 1955, Grade Teacher, volume 73, page 14:
- BATTY: But, Mother Witch, I want to go broomsticking, too.
- 2006, Brandi Scollins-Mantha, Floaters, page 75:
- Cynthia the Witch, whenever she broomsticked back into town would not even be given the chance to lay eyes on my machine or my clothes.
References
- Lighter, Jonathan (1972) “The Slang of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, 1917-1919: An Historical Glossary”, in American Speech, volume 47, number 1/2, page 22
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