Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A thorny deciduous Eurasian shrub (Prunus spinosa) of the rose family, having white flowers and small bluish-black fruits.
  • noun The fruit of this plant, used chiefly for flavoring alcoholic beverages such as sloe gin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The sloe, Prunus spinosa. See sloe.
  • noun A walking-stick made of the stem of this shrub.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A spreading thorny shrub or small tree (Prunus spinosa), with blackish bark, and bearing little black plums, which are called sloes; the sloe.
  • noun A species of Cratægus or hawthorn (Cratægus tomentosa). Both are used for hedges.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large shrub or small tree, Prunus spinosa, that is native to Europe, western Asia, and north Africa. It has a dark bark and bears thorns.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thorny Eurasian bush with plumlike fruits
  • noun erect and almost thornless American hawthorn with somewhat pear-shaped berries

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • But once the plant has flowered, the weather then turns cold, a period known as the "blackthorn winter".

    Weatherwatch: March's borrowing days 2011

  • Linnaeus dubbed blackthorn Prunus spinosa because everything about it is prickly, tart, sour and generally stroppy.

    Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

  • Linnaeus dubbed blackthorn Prunus spinosa because everything about it is prickly, tart, sour and generally stroppy.

    Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

  • Even the aid of the "blackthorn" was occasionally invoked as an effective instrument for securing correction or impressing conviction.

    The Young Priest's Keepsake Michael Phelan

  • I spared most of it, because blackthorn makes a magnificent show of snowy blossom when the cold north-east winds blow in late March, known as the blackthorn winter’.

    Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

  • I spared most of it, because blackthorn makes a magnificent show of snowy blossom when the cold north-east winds blow in late March, known as the blackthorn winter’.

    Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

  • There are still some fat, red berries among the hawthorns, though, and blackthorn bushes have their own blue-black berries known as sloes, which make delicious sloe gin.

    Plantwatch: Traveller's joy and old man's beard herald Father Christmas 2011

  • A tangle of blackthorn grows in the sheltered "v" and the first scattering of white flowers star its dark uncompromising branches.

    Country diary: South Uist 2011

  • He turned his arm toward her, pulling the torn cloth from the spot on his bicep that had borne the cut of the blackthorn hours earlier.

    Healing the Highlander Melissa Mayhue 2011

  • And it has been a fantastic year for fruits, with hawthorns, hollies and blackthorn producing terrific crops of berries.

    Plantwatch: Autumn arrives with brilliant colour and a bumper crop of berries 2011

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