whin
    n 1: very spiny and dense evergreen shrub with fragrant golden-
         yellow flowers; common throughout western Europe [syn:
         gorse, furze, whin, Irish gorse, Ulex europaeus]
    2: small Eurasian shrub having clusters of yellow flowers that
       yield a dye; common as a weed in Britain and the United
       States; sometimes grown as an ornamental [syn: woodwaxen,
       dyer's greenweed, dyer's-broom, dyeweed, greenweed,
       whin, woadwaxen, Genista tinctoria]
    3: any of various hard colored rocks (especially rocks
       consisting of chert or basalt) [syn: whinstone, whin]

Furze \Furze\, n. [OE. firs, As. fyrs.] (Bot.)
   A thorny evergreen shrub (Ulex Europ[ae]us), with beautiful
   yellow flowers, very common upon the plains and hills of
   Great Britain; -- called also gorse, and whin. The dwarf
   furze is Ulex nanus.
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Whin \Whin\, n. [W. chwyn weeds, a single weed.]
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   1. (Bot.)
      (a) Gorse; furze. See Furze.
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                Through the whins, and by the cairn. --Burns.
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      (b) Woad-waxed. --Gray.
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   2. Same as Whinstone. [Prov. Eng.]
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   Moor whin or Petty whin (Bot.), a low prickly shrub
      (Genista Anglica) common in Western Europe.

   Whin bruiser, a machine for cutting and bruising whin, or
      furze, to feed cattle on.

   Whin Sparrow (Zool.), the hedge sparrow. [Prov. Eng.]

   Whin Thrush (Zool.), the redwing. [Prov. Eng.]
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Woad-waxen \Woad"-wax`en\, n. [Cf. Wood-wax.] (Bot.)
   A leguminous plant (Genista tinctoria) of Europe and
   Russian Asia, and adventitious in America; -- called also
   greenwood, greenweed, dyer's greenweed, and whin,
   wood-wash, wood-wax, and wood-waxen.
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