[syn: whinstone, whin]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Furze \Furze\, n. [OE. firs, As. fyrs.] (Bot.)
A thorny evergreen shrub (Ulex Europ[ae]us), with beautiful
yellow flowers, very common upon the plains and hills of
Great Britain; -- called also gorse, and whin. The dwarf
furze is Ulex nanus.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Whin \Whin\, n. [W. chwyn weeds, a single weed.]
[1913 Webster]
1. (Bot.)
(a) Gorse; furze. See Furze.
[1913 Webster]
Through the whins, and by the cairn. --Burns.
[1913 Webster]
(b) Woad-waxed. --Gray.
[1913 Webster]
2. Same as Whinstone. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
Moor whin or Petty whin (Bot.), a low prickly shrub
(Genista Anglica) common in Western Europe.
Whin bruiser, a machine for cutting and bruising whin, or
furze, to feed cattle on.
Whin Sparrow (Zool.), the hedge sparrow. [Prov. Eng.]
Whin Thrush (Zool.), the redwing. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Woad-waxen \Woad"-wax`en\, n. [Cf. Wood-wax.] (Bot.)
A leguminous plant (Genista tinctoria) of Europe and
Russian Asia, and adventitious in America; -- called also
greenwood, greenweed, dyer's greenweed, and whin,
wood-wash, wood-wax, and wood-waxen.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
whin
n 1: very spiny and dense evergreen shrub with fragrant golden-
yellow flowers; common throughout western Europe [syn:
gorse, furze, whin, Irish gorse, Ulex europaeus]
2: small Eurasian shrub having clusters of yellow flowers that
yield a dye; common as a weed in Britain and the United
States; sometimes grown as an ornamental [syn: woodwaxen,
dyer's greenweed, dyer's-broom, dyeweed, greenweed,
whin, woadwaxen, Genista tinctoria]
3: any of various hard colored rocks (especially rocks
consisting of chert or basalt) [syn: whinstone, whin]