Hypertext Webster Gateway: "besom"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Besom
the rendering of a Hebrew word meaning sweeper, occurs only in
Isa. 14:23, of the sweeping away, the utter ruin, of Babylon.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Besom \Be"som\, n. [OE. besme, besum, AS. besma; akin to D.
bezem, OHG pesamo, G. besen; of uncertain origin.]
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Besom \Be"som\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Besomed}.]
To sweep, as with a besom. [Archaic or Poetic] --Cowper.
Rolls back all Greece, and besoms wide the plain.
--Barlow.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
besom
n : a broom made of twigs tied together on a long handle
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