(n.) A spreading thorny shrub or small tree (Prunus spinosa), with blackish bark, and bearing little black plums, which are called sloes; the sloe.
(n.) A species of Crataegus or hawthorn (C. tomentosa). Both are used for hedges.
Example Sentences:
(1) The route from the hospital runs along the base of the Downs, where the blackthorn has already sprung in the sunshine.
(2) The sea has turned the quarries into lagoons, while long grasses, wild fuchsia and blackthorn have covered what the sea cannot penetrate.
(3) Where it has hopped and run and suckered its way along the verges the blackthorn has formed cages that protect an inner world of primroses.
(4) We sat in the Subaru, Prideaux discussing HS2’s destruction of his huge blackthorn hedges, a relic of the hunting forest, and the rare butterflies and bats that depend on them.
(5) A Havant council spokesman said the mini-tornado is believed to have caused damage to properties in Blackthorn Road and Ilex Walk, although no injuries had been reported.
(6) Most people think of the island and think of Cowes Week and the festival but we’ve also got 28% child poverty levels.” Jack Hickey: ‘Just throwing money at problems doesn’t always solve them’ Facebook Twitter Pinterest A primary school teacher, Hickey qualified two years ago and has taught at Blackthorn academy in Northampton since last October.
(7) I crawled through spiky blackthorn scrub to escape: the wildest place I encountered in central England was an old railway.
(8) The blackthorn that hunkers into the tufted grassland has been held in readiness, and over the week I have watched the buds swell in their leafless transition from dormancy.
(9) Beech, field maple, hawthorn, hazel, horse chestnut, ivy and sycamore and blackthorn have all done well.
(10) Prosecutors questioned Humphrey over the alleged tailing of a target during a past operation called Operation Blackthorn, in which he investigated the general manager of a Finnish company for fraud.
(11) A seven-year-old boy fell against a blackthorn bush and found that thorns had penetrated the skin over the left knee.
(12) Many different strains of rats and mice are bred at Blackthorn: some to be diabetic, others to be obese, for example.
(13) To enter its Blackthorn site, staff and visitors have to remove all clothing and jewellery, shower and then wear sterilised clothing, hair nets, masks and gloves, coated in anti-bacterial gel, to prevent the spread of human-borne pathogens.
(14) Blackthorn, which possesses very long spines, seems over-engineered to deter browsing by deer; but not, perhaps, rhinoceros.
(15) It is striking, formidable security but not unexpected – for this is Harlan Laboratories in Blackthorn, Oxfordshire, home to 52,000 rats and mice destined for use in medical experiments and the target of a sustained campaign of intimidation by animal activists.
(16) First the cherry plum to the blackthorn; next the balloon-shaped flowers of the pears; then the delicate sprays of amelanchier, which cross over with the flurry of cherries.
Sloe
Definition:
(n.) A small, bitter, wild European plum, the fruit of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa); also, the tree itself.
Example Sentences:
(1) 'Portland, Oregon and sloe gin fizz, if that ain't love then tell me what is, uh huh…" Best name in the league... You're not fooling anyone Simon.
(2) Gin sales jumped 55% compared with the previous year, with upmarket products such as Warner Edwards rhubarb gin and Sipsmith sloe gin performing particularly well.
(3) It was a fantastic autumn for fruits, berries and nuts, especially apple and sloe, beech nuts and acorns.
(4) The prickles were of palm-tree (2 cases), sloe-tree (2 cases) or unknown (2 cases) origin.
(5) Right now wade, ankle deep, through flame-coloured leaves, catch a glimpse of ripening blue sloes shimmering in the undergrowth and dodge overhanging boughs laden with berries and rose hips.
(6) An abundance of holly, mistletoe and other berries such as sloe and hawthorn this autumn and early winter, far from being a predictor of cold and snow, has been a reaction to the warm spring when the trees could produce more blossoms.