bush lawyer
- noun
- New Zealand
:
abogado de arbusto
- The bush lawyer grows vigorously through the forest, often tangling with other shrubs and trees.
Examples
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Hikers in New Zealand are advised to watch out for the thorny stems of the bush lawyer.
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Native birds feed on the berries produced by the bush lawyer each summer.
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The bush lawyer is often found in New Zealand's forests.
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Many bush lawyers thrive in the wild.
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While exploring the New Zealand bush, we encountered a bush lawyer climbing up a tall tree.
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The bush lawyer is a tough shrub that can often become entangled with other plants in its environment.
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In spring, the flowers of the bush lawyer attract various insects, adding beauty to the forest.
Synonyms
A thick-stemmed, thorny shrub that trails over and through other plants in New Zealand forests
A shrub with thick stems from New Zealand that grows over other plants
A shrub with thick stems that trails and climbs over other plants
A trailing shrub from New Zealand with thick stems that grows over other plants
Surface Forms
Morphology
bush + lawyer
Although the first constituent 'bush' signals a plant, the second constituent 'lawyer' (a legal professional) does not contribute a predictable botanical sense; the compound is a conventional regional name for a specific shrub. A B1 learner who knows 'bush' and 'lawyer' would be unlikely to infer 'a stout-stemmed, trailing shrub' and would more likely interpret it as a person (a lawyer) associated with the bush, so the meaning is not transparently derivable from the parts.
Etymology
The plant name bush lawyer may come from its hooked, thorny stems that grab your clothes or skin when you push through the bush. People said the plant 'won't let go' like a lawyer, so the name helps you remember this clinging shrub.
