Forms; 5 quyn, qwynne, wyne, 5–7 whyn(ne, 6 whyne, Sc. quyin, 6–7 whinne, whine, Sc. quhinn(e, 7 win, whimme, (9 dial.) whim, Sc. (9 dial.) quhin, 8 (9 dial.) whinn, 8–9 Sc. and dial. whun, 6– whin. [app. orig. northern, and prob. of Scand. origin (cf. Sw. hven, early Da. hvine, hvinegræs, -strå, Norw. hvine, hvén, kvein, applied to certain grasses); the evidence goes to show that gorse was formerly of economic importance in the areas of special Scand. influence.
This origin is more probable than that which has been proposed from OWelsh chwynn weeds (mod. chwyn), cognate with Breton chouenna to hoe, weed.]
1. The common furze or gorse, Ulex europæus.
Often collect. pl. and sing. for a clump or mass of the shrub, or a quantity of it used for fuel, fencing, etc.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 159. A strete, Ful thik and hard,… With thornes, breres, and moni a quyn.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 643/32. Hec saliunca, wyne.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 524/2. Whynne, saliunca.
1538. Turner, Libellus, Paliurus, uarias habet subspecies, quarum una est frutex ille quem all[i]oqui a whyn allij a furre nominant.
1549. MSS. Dk. Rutland (Hist. MSS. Comm.), IV. 352. For fellyng and ledyng of xj lodes of whynnes … iijs. viijd.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 119. With whinnes or with furzes thy houell renew.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. ix. 669. The common Whyn, or great Furze.
1606. in Trans. Cumbld. & Westmid. Archaeol. Soc. (1903), III. 152. That none … shall cutt any whinne to burne upon paine of vid.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. xxiv. 258. Rough hay, full of whims [ed. 1636 whimmes, 1675 whins], thistels, or other pricking stuffe.
1698. A. de la Pryme, Diary (Surtees, 1869), 178. When all their fother was done, they took green whinz,… stampt them … to bruise all their pricles, and then gave them to their beasts.
1721. Ramsay, Ode to the Ph—, ii. Driving their Baws frae Whins or Tee, There’s no ae Gowfer to be seen.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 597. Whins or common furze make a valuable fence.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, v. Down beyond down, a vast sheet of purple heath and golden whin.
1878. Susan Phillips, On Seaboard, 254.
| Between the whin and the workhouse they pulled the old fox down, | |
| Where the woods lie under the long low hill with its gray cathedral crown. |
1882. Garden, 13 May, 324/3. I observed several fine bushes of the double flowering Whin (Furze) amongst the Broom.
2. Applied to other prickly or thorny shrubs, as rest-harrow and buckthorn; also to heather.
1530. Palsgr., 288/1. Whynne, bruiere. Whynnes or hethe, bruiere.
1548. Turner, Names Herbes (E.D.S.), 13. Anonis called also Ononis is called … in Cambryge Shyre a whyne.
1570. Levins, Manip., 133/14. A Whin, rhamnus.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Whin or Petty Whin, a Shrub, otherwise call’d Knee-holm.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Whin, the rest-harrow.
3. With distinctive additions, in local names of various prickly shrubs:
Cammock, Lady-, Land-whin = petty whin (a); Cat(’s) whin = petty whin; also dwarf furze, dog-rose, burnet-rose; Heather-, Moor-, Moss-, Needle-whin = petty whin (b); Petty whin, (a) Turner’s name for the Rest-barrow, Ononis arvensis; (b) the Needle-furze, Genista anglica.
14[?]. MS. Laud 553, lf. 18. Reta bouis is an herbe þt me clepuþ cammok whynne or calketrap.
1551. Turner, Herbal, I. D j. Petye Whyne, or grounde Whyne, or lytle Whyne is called in latyn, & Greke ononis, and anonis…. In cambryge shyre thys herbe is called a whyne, but I putt pety to it, to make dyfference betwene thys herbe, and a fur: whyche in manye places of Englande is also called a Whyne.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health, 527. Restharrow, Cammok, or Petywhin.
1650. [W. Howe], Phytol. Brit., 45. Genistella … Needle Furze or Petty Whin.
1684. Meriton, Praise Ale, 108 (E. D. S.). Our Land is tewgh, and full of … Cat-whins.
1763. Museum Rust., I. lxxxv. 377. Such barren sandy heaths where petty-whin, heather, and short furze, plentifully grow.
1788. W. Marshall, E. Yorksh., II. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cat-whin, sb. rosa spinosissima, burnet rose.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Land-whin, s., the rest-harrow.
1853. G. Johnston, Bot. E. Bord., 51. G[enista] anglica. Moor-Whin: Heather-Whin: Moss-Whin.
1878. Cumbrld. Gloss., Cat-whin, the dwarf whin. Ulex nanus.
1886. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Lady-whin, Ononis arvensis,… Encyclopædia of Agriculture.
4. attrib. and Comb., as whin-bloom, -covert, -cow (COW sb.2), -fence, -flower, -hack (HACK sb.1), -pod, -prick, -prickle, -root, -seed; whin-kid, a bundle of whin; hence whin-kid vb., to fence or thatch with whin; whin-linnet (see quots.); whin-thrush, a local name for the redwing, = WINNARD; whin-wrack, a species of grass (see quot.).
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., *Whun blooms, the yellow blooms of the whin.
1865. Allingham, 50 Mod. Poems, Among the Heather, ii. Your mountain air is sweet … When … the whinbloom smells like honey.
1842. in Zoologist (1843), I. 80. When walking through a straggling *whin-covert … Mr. Selby was surprised by flushing a woodcock from a small patch of ferns.
1826. Scott, Jrnl., 28 Feb. in Lockhart. If you would have a horse kick, make a crupper out of a *whin-cow.
1794. J. Bailey & Culley, View Agric. Cumberld., 32. We observed large tracts totally inclosed by *whin-fences.
1897. Watts-Dunton, Aylwin, xvii. Making the gold coins round her neck shine like dewy *whin-flowers struck by the sunrise.
1585–6. Wills & Inv. Durham (Surtees), II. 131. iij *whine hackes.
1651. N. Riding Rec., V. 90. Six *whyn kidds.
1841. Instit. Civil Eng. Min. Proc., I. 141. The author … has lately been occupied in forming a defence, by warping silt, with whin or gorse kids, laid horizontally.
1876. Mid-Yorks. Gloss., s.v., The parcels of land [are] … whin-kydded about.
1837. Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, I. 371. Linaria cannabina. The Brown Linnet…. *Whin Linnet. Greater Redpoll.
1862. Johns, Brit. Birds, 625. Whin Linnet, the Common Linnet.
1874. Stevenson, Ess. Trav., On Unpleas. Places, 246. The … crackling of the *whin-pods in the afternoon sun.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 13. The little white Field-Spider … imboss’d all over with black Knobs, out of … which grow bristles or prickles like *whin-pricks.
1899. Crockett, Kit Kennedy, xxxvi. As if they had been sitting on *whin prickles.
1586. Depos. Durham (Surtees), 320. My good man’s horse fest at a *whinne roote.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., 28. Harrows wi’ teeth o’ whunroots.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 122. Every time that the land is turned into grass, the *whin-seeds near the surface will vegetate.
1848. Zoologist, VI. 2290. The redwing is in G[loucestershire] a *‘whin thrush.’
1853. G. Johnston, Bot. E. Bord., 212. Holcus mollis.… *Whin-wrack,—so called because it is found to occupy places whence Whins have been removed.
