broom

Everyday

1. A broom is a brush with a long handle for sweeping floors. tree →
2. Broom is also a wild bush with small yellow flowers. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life a broom is used to sweep the floor, the yard or leaves; children help with chores. In stories and at Halloween witches fly on broomsticks. In sport, curling players use brooms to sweep the ice. Phrase: «a new broom sweeps clean» means a new leader makes many changes.

Examples

• Use the broom to sweep up the crumbs. tree →
• The witch flew across the moon on her broom. tree →
• Can you sweep the leaves with the big broom? tree →
• Yellow broom flowers grew on the hillside. tree →
• The broom and dustpan are in the cupboard. tree →
• Curling players sweep the ice with brooms. tree →
• Ya-hip! ya-hip!' And he flourished his broom in triumph." tree →

Note

Countable: brooms. «Broomstick» is the handle of a broom, or the whole broom in witch stories. Not «bloom» (a flower), which sounds similar.

In Jewish tradition

The "broom" is a desert shrub (the retem), not a sweeping brush. Its wood burns very hot, so "coals of broom" means fierce fire.

Interpretation. Tradition notes that the broom-tree gave Elijah shelter in his despair, and that the angel fed him there. Its hot coals are a picture of the sharp, burning power of slander in the Psalms.

Examples

• Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of broom. (Writings PSA.120.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• They pluck salt-wort with wormwood; and the roots of the broom are their food. (Writings JOB.30.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he lay down and slept under a broom-tree; and, behold, an angel touched him, and said unto him: 'Arise and eat.' (Prophets 1KI.19.5, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: brooms. «Broomstick» is the handle of a broom, or the whole broom in witch stories. Not «bloom» (a flower), which sounds similar.