especially: a nearly cosmopolitan brake (Pteridium aquilinum) found in most tropical and temperate regions
2
: a growth of brakes
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebIn a statement, Cornwall Archaeological Unit senior archaeologist Peter Dudley, said that 13 volunteers gave 111 hours of their time to clear the bracken and scrub that obscured the henge. Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 May 2022 The crash of wild bodies in the bracken thundered in my ears.Outside Online, 25 May 2020 Some dishes on display — radish pickles, or mushrooms paired with gently chewy bracken ferns dressed in nutty perilla oil, or tangles of acorn-flour noodles — bring to mind an uplifting array of banchan. Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2022 In the mountains, the iris are always first to bloom, the bracken ferns the last to poke through the forest floor, now imminent. Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 12 Apr. 2020 Trees, bracken, and even roads sparkle in milky light. Juliana Hanle, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2019 The way the procession works is that bracken ferns and willows turn first, then maples, followed by aspens, dogwoods and other hardwoods. Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 22 Sep. 2019 Hills were covered in heather and bracken, and the fields were divided by old stone walls that had fallen apart in places. Marc Myers, WSJ, 28 Aug. 2018 The Iceman’s last meal was balanced with grains from einkorn wheat and traces of a genus of toxic ferns called bracken. Lizzie Wade, Science | AAAS, 12 July 2018 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English braken, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Swedish brækne fern