thorn bush
2
2.9
- noun
:
arbusto espinoso
- Elias uprooted the thorn bushes in the garden.
Examples
-
The Black Rhino lives in dry thorn bush country, and males are usually solitary.
Academic text (2003) -
In contrast, the 48 Black Rhinos in Nakuru are shy, hide in dense thorn bush, and are very difficult to locate for photographic opportunities.
Academic text (2003) -
In our village, we construct thorn-bush fences around where we live.
-
It looks like she might have run into a thorn bush out there.
-
Today, the wilderness held more dangerous things than thorn bushes.
Fiction book (1992) -
At other times, I was delayed by mazes of tenacious thorn bushes aptly named wait-a-bit.
Academic text (1996) -
In the course of an 11-day stay in Nakuru, we only sighted one Black Rhino mother with a calf, which passed quickly in front of our vehicle and disappeared into thick thorn bush.
Academic text (2003) -
Off in the distance could be heard the calm and methodical heartbeat of the ocean, while closer, a night bird sang melancholic, trilling its low whistle from within a tangled thorn bush.
Fiction book (2002) -
The boy wailed as a thorn bush pricked his bare legs.
-
In our village, we construct thorn bush fences around where we live.
Synonyms
9
6.0
A rough, thorny bush that often has berries like blackberries or raspberries
4
8.0
A thorny plant like a wild rose or a woody vine
1
5.7
A wild prickly bush with blackberries you can eat
How Thorny
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bush with sharp thorns' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'thorn' (sharp pointed projection) and 'bush' (a small woody plant). This simple noun-noun compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows ordinary English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The name thorn bush comes from a simple picture: a bush covered in sharp thorns that can prick you and often grows so thick it becomes a natural 'barrier'. So, thorn bush means a shrub with sharp points that can protect birds' nests or block a path.