urze

Meanings

1. 1noununcountabledialectrare

   A prickly bush with yellow flowers that grows wild on open ground, especially in southwestern Britain.

   Grammar: Used as a mass noun for the plant or a patch of it: the hills were covered in urze.

   Patterns

   • a patch of urze
   • covered in urze
   • urze bushes

   The old shepherd led us across a hillside thick with urze.

   In local speech, the yellow-flowered scrub on the moor is still called urze.

   They burned the urze to clear the ground for grazing.

2. 2noununcountabledialectrare

   The wood or dried branches of this bush, used as fuel or for making brooms.

   Grammar: Also uncountable, and often used with verbs like burn, gather, or cut.

   Patterns

   • gather urze
   • burn urze
   • a bundle of urze

   They gathered urze for the fire before the storm came in.

   A bundle of urze was tied up and used as a rough broom.

   The cottage smelled of smoke from burning urze.

Common combinations

a patch of urze

A patch of urze had spread across the lower field.

covered in urze

The cliff top was covered in urze and rough grass.

burn the urze

Farmers sometimes burn the urze to encourage new growth.

urze bushes

The path was lined with low urze bushes.

gather urze

The children were sent out to gather urze for kindling.

Synonyms and how they differ

gorse

The standard modern name for the same plant and the word to use in most writing.

furze

Another regional name for the same bush, common in some parts of Britain.

whin

A Scottish and northern English name for the same prickly yellow-flowered shrub.

Commonly confused: urze or furze?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “urze”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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