Added 9 October 2026

broom

/bɹuːm/ noun

In Latin: scōpae, rūscum, ēverriculum Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about broom at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.
Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, with long, stiff, thin branches and small or few leaves used for the domestic utensil. Especially, of the tribe Genisteae, including genera Cytisus, Genista, and Spartium. Of plants not closely related to those of tribe Genisteae.

To sweep with a broom.
To improve the embedding of a membrane by using a broom or squeegee to smooth it out and ensure contact with the adhesive under the membrane.
To get rid of someone, like firing an employee or breaking up with a girlfriend, to sweep another out of one's life.

Alternative form of brrm (“sound of a car engine”)
I'm in me mum's car, broom broom

Inherited from Middle English brom, from Old English brōm (“brushwood”), from Proto-West Germanic *brām (“bramble”) (compare Saterland Frisian Brom, West Frisian brem, Dutch braam, German Low German Braam), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, from *bʰer- ‘edge’. Related to brim, brink. Replaced English besom (from Old English besma (“broom, rod”)), which is now restricted in meaning to a particular kind of broom. (shotgun): So called because it is (like the cleaning utensil) long and held similarly to a besom and “cleans” what is in front.