Category:Besom

Be"som, n. Etym: [OE. besme, besum, AS. besma; akin to D. bezem, OHG pesamo, G. besen; of uncertain origin.]

Defn: A brush of twigs for sweeping; a broom; anything which sweeps away or destroys. [Archaic or Fig.] I will sweep it with the besom of destruction. Isa. xiv. 23. The housemaid with her besom. W. Irving.

Be"som, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Besomed.]

Defn: To sweep, as with a besom. [Archaic or Poetic] Cowper. Rolls back all Greece, and besoms wide the plain. Barlow.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Besom - The rendering of a Hebrew word meaning sweeper, occurs only in Isaiah 14:23, of the sweeping away, the utter ruin, of Babylon.