spicebush

[ spahys-boosh ]

noun
  1. Also called spice-wood. a yellow-flowered, North American shrub, Lindera benzoin, of the laurel family, whose bark and leaves have a spicy odor.

  2. a North American shrub, Calycanthus occidentalis, having oblong leaves and fragrant, light-brown flowers.

Origin of spicebush

1
An Americanism dating back to 1760–70; spice + bush1
  • Also called Benjamin-bush.

Words Nearby spicebush

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

How to use spicebush in a sentence

  • There were clam shells piled up with red checkerberries, and caddis worms on the half shell, with spicebush nubbins.

    Woodland Tales | Ernest Seton-Thompson
  • Below is a golden sheen where the spicebush is in flower, and a shimmer of pale green about the early willows.

    In the Open | Stanton Davis Kirkham

British Dictionary definitions for spicebush

spicebush

/ (ˈspaɪsˌbʊʃ) /


noun
  1. a North American lauraceous shrub, Lindera benzoin, having yellow flowers and aromatic leaves and bark

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