Meaning & use
osier
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountablespecialist
A kind of willow with long, bendy shoots, or one of those shoots, used for weaving baskets and furniture.
Grammar: Countable for the plant (an osier); often uncountable for the material (some osier).
Patterns
- osier basket
- bundle of osiers
The basket maker soaked the osier so that it would bend without cracking.
Osiers grow along the river bank and are cut every year.
She wove a laundry hamper from osier.
Word forms
| plural | osiers |
|---|
Common combinations
- osier basket
- The osier basket held the picnic lunch.
- osier bed
- An osier bed beside the stream was harvested each winter.
- peeled osier
- Peeled osier is pale and smooth.
- woven osier
- The chair was made of woven osier.
- cut osiers
- He tied the cut osiers into bundles.
Synonyms and how they differ
- willow
- Willow is the general tree name, while osier names the kinds grown for flexible shoots.
- wicker
- Wicker is the woven product or the weaving method, not the plant itself.
- withy
- Withy is an old word for a flexible willow twig and is more regional than osier.
- rattan
- Rattan is a different plant, a tropical palm, used for similar furniture.
Word family
- osiery noun
- a place where osiers are grown or products made of them
- osier bed noun
- a patch where osiers are cultivated
- osier willow noun
- the plant species
Commonly confused: osier or ozier? osier or osmosis?
osier vs ozier
Ozier is an old, rare spelling of osier.
osier vs osmosis
Osmosis is a scientific process and is unrelated to willows.
Practice
What are osiers mainly used for?
Choose one answer.
Osier shoots are flexible, so they are woven into baskets. They are not used for paper, bridges or seasoning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “osier”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.