Forms: 1 brémel, brǽmel, brǽmbel, 1–4 brembel, 2 brimbel, 3 brimbyl, 4 brembil, -bul, brimbil, 5 bremmyll, brymbyl(l, brymmeylle, 5–6 brymble, 5–9 bremble (in 9 dial.), 6 brambel, brombille, brymmil, 6– bramble. [OE. brembel, bræmbel, later form (with euphonic b, and consequent shortening of vowel) of brémel, brǽmel, masc.:—OTeut. type brǣmilo-z, dim. of the word, of which the simplest forms are OE. bróm BROOM:—WGer. *brâm:—OTeut. *brǣmo-z, and WGer. *brâma ‘thorny shrub’ (OHG. brâma, MDu. brame, Du. braam, MLG. braam):—OTeut. brǣmâ- str. fem. Cf. mod.G. brombeere brambleberry, blackberry. See also BROOM.]

1

  1.  A rough prickly shrub; spec. the blackberry-bush (Rubus fruticosus).

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c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. iii. 18. Ðornas and bremelas heo asprit ðe.

3

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 192. Genim þas wyrte þe man erusti, & oðrum naman bremel [v.r. bræmbel] nemneð. Ibid., II. 290. Wiþ utwærce brembel þe sien beʓen endas on eorþan.

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c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 223. Se eorðe … sylðe þornes and brembles.

5

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 924. Brembel [v.r. brimbyl] and thorn it sal te yeild.

6

1382.  Wyclif, Job xxxi. 40. For whete be sprunge to me a brimbil.

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1481.  Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 95. Tho cam we in a felde ful of brome and brembles.

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1513.  Douglas, Æneis, III. ix. 110. My wrechit fuid wes berreis of the brymmil.

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1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. U iv b. The bramble bindeth, drieth and dieth heyre.

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1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 678. Their defenceless Limbs the Brambles tear.

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1751.  Johnson, Rambl., No. 161, ¶ 1. Tully sought amidst bushes and brambles the tomb of Archimedes.

12

1861.  Delamer, Fl. Gard., 111. There is a double white-flowered variety of the common Bramble.

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  fig.  1644.  Milton, Educ. (1738), 136. That asinine feast of sow-thistles & brambles which is commonly set before them.

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1779.  Johnson, L. P., Dryden (1816), 351. The roses had not yet been plucked from the bramble.

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  2.  Comb. and Attrib., as bramble-brake, -brier, -bud, -bush, -leaf, -thread, -wood; also bramble-bond, a bramble-shoot used to bind straw in thatching, etc.; bramble-brand, a parasitic fungus (Aregma rubi) which appears on the bramble; bramble-cure, a superstitious practice formerly employed in country districts for the cure of disease (cf. bramble-loop); bramble-flower, the flower or blossom of a bramble; also the Dog-rose (Rosa canina); bramble-loop, the loop formed by a bramble-shoot bent round so as to root itself into the ground again; bramble-rose, the white trailing dog-rose. Also BRAMBLE-BERRY.

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1854.  J. Hogg, Microsc., II. i. (1867), 294. *Bramble Brand, hypogenous with a dull red stain on the upper surface.

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c. 1000.  Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 269. Tribulus, *bræm-belbrær.

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1579.  Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 87. *Bramble breer, or Blackberry.

19

1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., June, 7. The *Bramble bush, where Byrds … their tunes attemper.

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1846.  Sowerby, Brit. Bot. (1864), III. 163. An incautious approach to a Bramble-bush.

21

1866.  Treas. Bot., II. 996/1. In Cornwall the *bramble-cure is only employed for boils.

22

1591.  Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, xi. This with sharpe teeth the *bramble leaves doth lop.

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1866.  Treas. Bot., II. 996/1. We have heard of cows that were … dragged through the *bramble-loop.

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1713.  C’tess Winchilsea, Misc. Poems, 291. The Woodbind and the *Bramble-Rose.

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