Bramble

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɹæmbÉ™l/
• Rhymes: -æmbÉ™l

Origin

Middle English brembel, from Old English bræmbel, from earlier brǣmel, brēmel, from dialectal Proto-Germanic *brēmila- (compare West Frisian brommel, Flemish bramel, Low German Brummel), diminutive of *brēm- (compare English broom). More at broom.

Full definition of bramble

Noun

1. (British) Common blackberry.
• 1944, Miles Burton, The Three Corpse Trick Chapter 5, The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.
2. (US) Any of several closely related thorny plants in the genus Rubus, including blackberry and raspberry.
3. Any thorny shrub.
4. A cocktail of gin, lemon juice, and blackberry liqueur.

Derived terms

• stone bramble
• brambled
• brambling