bavin
English edit
Etymology edit
Perhaps Old French baffe (“a faggot”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bavin (countable and uncountable, plural bavins)
- (Southern England, archaic, countable) A bundle of wood or twigs, which may be used in broom-making.
- (Southern England, archaic, countable) A faggot bound with only one band.
- (UK, dialect, uncountable) Impure limestone.
- 1839, Roderick Murchison, The Silurian System, i. xxxvi. 484:
- The concretions […] are called 'bavin,' the shale associated with them being termed 'rotch.'
Verb edit
bavin (third-person singular simple present bavins, present participle bavining, simple past and past participle bavined)
- (Southern England, archaic) To bundle and bind wood into bavins.
Adjective edit
bavin (not comparable)
- Made of firewood or kindling.
- a. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, act 3, scene 2, lines 60–63:
- The skipping King, he ambled up and down, / With shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits, / Soon kindled and soon burnt, carded his state, / Mingled his royalty with capering fools,
Norman edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun edit
bavin m (uncountable)