sage broom n Also broom-sage broom, field-sage ~, sage-grass ~; rarely sage-brush (grass) ~ Sth, S Midl Cf Pronc Intro 3.I.5.b, broom sedge n, sedge n A, sedge grass n 2
A broom made of broom sedge n.
1888 Youth’s Companion 61.253 sAppalachians, Mechanically she put the chunks together, and brushed the uneven hearth with a sage-broom. 1912 Med. Assoc. GA Jrl. 2.356, The old field-sage broom . . has caused many back-aches and swept up lots of germs to make dollars for the deserving doctor. 1917 (1921) Moore Betsy Hamilton 109 neAL, I wore a sage grass broom bardaciously out on him [=a dog]. 1918 Columbus Enquirer–Sun (GA) 21 Dec 4/2, “Wringing broom sedge” (“broom sage” in the vernacular name) for making home-made brooms is now general through the country. . . With “store bought brooms” at $1.00 up and over, . . we see where the people are right, especially as a sage broom will sweep a floor just as clean and more easily than one of the cultivated broom straw.—Talladega Home. 1938 Johnson Narr. Hist. Wise Co. VA 141, I want to see her get the old sage broom, the field sage broom, from the corner near the loom. [1943 Caldwell GA Boy 117, Handsome was in and out of the house all morning, scrubbing the floor and splitting fat-pine lighters and sweeping the yard with the sedge broom.] c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Broomsage broom. . . Coarse home-made broom to sweep porches. More often sage-grass broom. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. F36, . . Kinds of brooms) Infs AL52, MD14, MS37, 45, 72, NC31, SC43, TX99, Broom-sage (broom); AL30, 33, GA81, IN48, MS48, NC55, Sage broom; MS79, Sage broom—people in country used to make brooms out of sage, a form of grass; LA3, Sage-bresh broom; OK21, They used to use sage-brush grass brooms, but I never did. 1983 MJLF 9.54 ceKY (as of 1956), Sage grass broom . . a broom made of sedge. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance Gulf Region, 8 infs, Sage broom(s); 1 inf, Sage broom = yard broom; 1 inf, Sage broom—handmade; 1 inf, Sage broom—made of broom sage; 2 infs, Sage-grass broom(s); [1 inf, Sagebrush—used for both yard and house brooms]. 2007 Anniston Star (AL) 20 Dec sec A 5/4, The mantelpiece includes a Kines family relic, a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun. . . A sage broom leans against the mantel.