Bushes

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbʊʃɪz/

Definitions

1. Low-growing woody plants that may occur in groups often serve decorative or functional purposes in gardens and landscapes
2. Clusters of vegetation that provide cover and food for various wildlife while enhancing the visual appeal of outdoor spaces
3. Plants with woody stems growing close together and not forming a large tree ; places with dense growth of small trees and shrubs often found in natural environments

Etymology: The plural here is simple: "bushes" is just "bush" with the ordinary "-es" ending added after the "sh" sound, so the interesting history sits in the singular. The English word comes from Middle English "bush," traceable to Old English "busc" and "bysc," which meant "copse, grove, scrub," a word that survived mostly in place names. Its deeper root is the Germanic "buskaz," meaning "bush, thicket," and it is cognate with German "Busch," Dutch "bos" (forest), and Swedish "buske." Latin "boscus" and French "bois" and "buisson" came from the same Germanic stock, so English "bush" and modern "bosque" are doublets of one another. The older sense of "thicket" or "small wood" lingered in English dialects and London-area names such as Shepherd's Bush. The sense of the word as a wild, untamed landscape came later, in British colonies, probably reinforced by Dutch settlers in North America and the Cape Colony, who used "bosch" for the wilderness beyond their farms.

Synonyms: shrubs, bush, undergrowth, thicket, vegetation

Antonyms: trees, open land, clearance