wofa: Surely a besom has uses other than brushing the ice to guide heavy stones?

Faldage: Besom is, as far as I know, the standard Scots English word for broom. I suspect the only time you're going to run into the word, outside of Scots English dialect uses, is going to be in the sport of curling, hence…


Technically, I believe a broom is one with the bristles on a brush attached to a pole, while a besom, as wofa pointed out, is one where a bundle of twigs is tied or otherwise attached around a pole. In this sense it's by no means confined to Scots English.

Bingley

Bingley