bavin

English

Etymology

Perhaps Old French baffe (“a faggot”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæ.vɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

bavin (countable and uncountable, plural bavins)

1. (Southern England, archaic, countable) A bundle of wood or twigs, which may be used in broom-making.
   • 1578, John Lyly, Euphues:

     […] that hot love is soon cold: that the bavin, though it burn bright, is but a blaze: that scalding water, it if stand awhile, turneth almost to ice […]

   1. (Southern England, archaic, countable) A faggot bound with only one band.
2. (UK, dialect, uncountable) Impure limestone.
   • 1839, Roderick Murchison, The Silurian System, i. xxxvi. 484:

     The concretions […] are called 'bavin,' the shale associated with them being termed 'rotch.'

Verb

bavin (third-person singular simple present bavins, present participle bavining, simple past and past participle bavined)

1. (Southern England, archaic) To bundle and bind wood into bavins.

Adjective

bavin (not comparable)

1. Made of firewood or kindling.
   • a. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, act 3, scene 2, lines 60–63:

     The skipping King, he ambled up and down, / With shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits, / Soon kindled and soon burnt, carded his state, / Mingled his royalty with capering fools,

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

bavin m (uncountable)

1. (Guernsey) nonsense, rubbish