wait-a-bit

American  

[weyt-uh-bit] / ˈweɪt əˌbɪt /

noun

1. any of various plants bearing thorns or prickly appendages, as the grapple plant or the greenbrier.

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wait-a-bit British  

noun

1. any of various plants having sharp hooked thorns or similar appendages, esp the greenbrier and the grapple plant

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Etymology

Origin of wait-a-bit

1775–85; translation of Afrikaans wag-'n-bietjie < Dutch wacht een beetje

Example Sentences

After a fourteen miles' march the troop reached the Zwart Kop river, and, crossing the ford, encamped among the scattered mimosas and numerous wait-a-bit thorns.

From Project Gutenberg

He might indeed scramble over at the expense of torn hands and clothing, though there was the danger of being held fast by the tenacious wait-a-bit thorns of which the obstacle was made.

From Project Gutenberg

He suspected from this that they were some of the Swahilis of the party, and suspicion became certainty when Bill discovered a tiny strip of white cotton on a spike of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush.

From Project Gutenberg

The British call them "wait-a-bit" thorns, and under either name they are equally dangerous.

From Project Gutenberg

The various acacias, hack-thorn, wait-a-bit, hook-and-stick thorn, and the common thorny acacia, with its long, smooth ivory needles, were all putting forth their round, sweet-scented blooms, some greenish, some yellow, against the coming of the rains.

From Project Gutenberg