needle furze
- noun
- UK
:
gorse
- Walking through the moor, she pricked her hand on a needle furze bush.
Examples
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In spring, needle furze covers the landscape with bright yellow blossoms.
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The fields were dotted with patches of needle furze swaying in the breeze.
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Look at that needle furze!
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The needle furze blooms beautifully in spring.
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In spring, needle furze covers the landscape with bright yellow blossoms.
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The fields were dotted with patches of needle furze swaying in the breeze.
-
Walking through the moor, she pricked her hand on a needle furze bush.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A spiny evergreen bush with bright yellow flowers that grows on hills
A small prickly shrub with bright yellow flowers that grows on moors
A prickly bush with bright yellow flowers that grows on moors
A prickly bush with bright yellow flowers that grows on moors
How Prickly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is fully compositional: 'needle' describes needle-like (sharp) form and 'furze' names the shrub, so 'needle furze' straightforwardly denotes a furze with needle-like/prickly leaves. This modifier+noun pattern is regular in English and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The noun needle furze comes from the plant's sharp spikes: needle for the small pointed spines and furze as an old word for 'gorse'. Picture a low bush with bright yellow flowers and many tiny spikes that can prick you, and that's why the name means this prickly yellow shrub.