cocklebur

[ kok-uhl-bur ]

noun
  1. any composite plant of the genus Xanthium, comprising coarse weeds with spiny burs.

  2. the burdock, Arctium lappa.

Origin of cocklebur

1
First recorded in 1795–1805; cockle2 + bur1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cocklebur in a sentence

  • A furry pony with mane and tail so loaded with cockleburs that he could not shake them, lifted his head and stared.

    Bonaventure | George Washington Cable
  • It was hard to tell what either the tail or mane was like as both were so matted with cockleburs and bits of weed.

    Ticktock and Jim | Keith Robertson
  • The land was overgrown with sunflowers and cockleburs and would have been considered dear at $10 per acre.

    Farming with Dynamite | E. I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Co.
  • Yer story is what I thought it would be—wild and woolly and full of cockleburs.

    Ted Strong's Motor Car | Edward C. Taylor
  • A rope to your foot, cockleburs in your hair, and a clothespin on your tongue.

    The Roycroft Dictionary | Elbert Hubbard

British Dictionary definitions for cocklebur

cocklebur

/ (ˈkɒkəlˌbɜː) /


noun
  1. any coarse weed of the genus Xanthium, having spiny burs: family Asteraceae (composites)

  2. the bur of any of these plants

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012