View source for besom

==English==

===Etymology===
{{root|en|ine-pro|*bʰes-}}
From {{inh|en|enm|besme}}, {{m|enm|beseme}}, from {{inh|en|ang|besma}}, {{m|ang|besema|t=besom, broom, rod}}, from {{inh|en|gmw-pro|*besmō|t=broom}}.

[[File:Broom.jpg|100 px|right|thumb|A traditional besom.]]

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|en|/ˈbiː.zəm/}}
* {{audio|en|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-besom.wav|a=Southern England}}

===Noun===
{{en-noun}}

# A [[broom]] made from a bundle of twigs tied onto a shaft.
#* {{RQ:Bellow Humboldt's Gift|year=1976|page=56|passage=As a kid I went to the Russian Bath with my own father. … Down in the cellar men moaned on the steam-softened planks while they were massaged abrasively with oak-leaf '''besoms''' lathered in pickle buckets.}}
# {{lb|en|Scotland|Northern England|derogatory}} A [[troublesome]] [[woman]].
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1903|passage="Eh, but she was a '''besom''', if a' tales be true !"|page=130|title=The Dark O' the Moon: A Novel|author=Samuel Rutherford Crockett}}
#* {{quote-book|en|page=10|title=A Dominie Dismissed|author=A.S. Neill.|passage=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.|year=1917}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1963|passage=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."|page=187|title=The Shinty Boys|author=Margaret McLean MacPherson}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2013|passage="She's a '''besom''' but no' bad at times, like now," Agnes said as she bit into a dough-ring.|title=Best Friends|author=Nora Kay}}
# Any [[cleanse|cleansing]] or [[purify]]ing [[agent]].
#* {{quote-journal|en|year=1851|passage="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."|page=364|journal=Littell’s Living Age|volume=28|title=A Few Words about War and the Peace Congress.}}

====Derived terms====
{{col-auto|en|besomer|besomlike|besom-head|besom pocket| witch's besom}}

====Translations====
{{trans-top|broom}}
* Arabic: {{t|ar|مِقَشَّة|f}}
*: Hijazi Arabic: {{t|acw|مَقَشَّة|f|tr=magašša}}
* Armenian: {{t+|hy|ավել}}, {{t+|hy|ցախավել}}
* Bengali: {{t+|bn|ঝাঁটা}}, {{t+|bn|বাড়ন}}, {{t+|bn|খেংরা}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|метла|alt=метла (от пръчки)}}
* Burmese: {{t-needed|my}}
* Chinese:
*: Mandarin: {{t-needed|cmn}}
* Dutch: {{t+|nl|bezem|m}}
* Finnish: {{t|fi|varpuluuta}}, {{t+|fi|varsiluuta}}
* Georgian: {{t-needed|ka}}
* German: {{t+|de|Besen|m}}, {{t|de|Reisigbesen|m}}
* Hebrew: {{t+|he|מטאטא|m}} mataté
* Italian: {{t|it|scopa di saggina}}
* Japanese: {{t-needed|ja}}
* Korean: {{t-needed|ko}}
* Latvian: {{t+|lv|slota|f}}
* Limburgish: {{t+|li|bessem|m}}
* Norwegian:
*: Bokmål: {{t+|nb|sopelime|m}}
*: Nynorsk: {{t|nn|sopelime|m}}
* Ottoman Turkish: {{t|ota|سوپوركه|tr=süpürge}}, {{t|ota|جاروب|tr=carub}}, {{t|ota|مكنسه|tr=miknese}}
* Persian: {{t+|fa|جاروب|tr=jârub}}
* Polish: {{t+|pl|miotła|f}}
* Portuguese: {{t+|pt|vassoura|f}}
* Russian: {{t+|ru|метла|f}}
* Scottish Gaelic: {{t|gd|sguab|f}}
* Thai: {{t-needed|th}}
* Vietnamese: {{t-needed|vi}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|troublesome woman}}
* Chinese:
*: Mandarin: {{t-needed|cmn}}
* Finnish: {{t+|fi|noita-akka}}
* German: {{t+|de|Besen|m}}
* Norwegian:
*: Bokmål: {{t+|nb|rivjern|n}}
* Polish: {{t+|pl|baba jaga|f}}, {{t+|pl|czarownica|f}}, {{t+|pl|heksa|f}}, {{t+|pl|jędza|f}}, {{t+|pl|wiedźma|f}}, {{t+|pl|zołza|f}}
* Portuguese: {{t-needed|pt}}
{{trans-bottom}}

====See also====
* {{pedia|besom}}

===Verb===
{{en-verb}}

# {{lb|en|archaic|poetic}} To [[sweep]].
#* {{RQ:D. Thomas Under Milk Wood|page=13|passage=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...}}

===Anagrams===
* {{anagrams|en|a=bemos|mebos|mobes}}

{{C|en|Cleaning|Female people|Tools}}

==Middle English==

===Noun===
{{head|enm|noun}}

# {{tlb|enm|Late ME}} {{alt form|enm|besme}}

==Serbo-Croatian==

===Noun===
{{sh-noun-form}}

# {{inflection of|sh|bes||ins|s}}

===Noun===
{{sh-noun-form}}

# {{inflection of|sh|besa||ins|s}}

==Yola==

===Etymology===
From {{inh|yol|enm|bisne|bysom|t=blind, purblind}}, from {{inh|yol|ang|bisene|t=blind}}. Cognate with {{cog|en|bisson}}.

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|yol|/bɛˈsuːm/}}

===Adjective===
{{head|yol|adjective}}

# {{lb|yol|figurative}} [[stupid]]
#* {{quote-book|yol|year=1927|chapter=ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS|line=5|page=129|title=THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD|passage=Thick '''besom''' fighed a spagh wi kick an a blaake{{...}}|translation=The '''stupid''' kid figged the spoke, with a kick and a bleat{{...}}}}

===References===
* {{R:Browne 1927|page=129}}