wait-a-bit

[ weyt-uh-bit ]

/ ˈweɪt əˌbɪt /

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

Origin of wait-a-bit

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

His nap had brought a return of appetite; and the wait-a-bit thorns showed the marks of his prehensile trunk.

The Bush Boys |Captain Mayne Reid
The British call them "wait-a-bit" thorns, and under either name they are equally dangerous.

Adventures in Swaziland |Owen Rowe O'Neil
I was busy all the afternoon in cutting ‘wait-a-bit’ thorns for a kraal.

The Bush Boys |Captain Mayne Reid
A sage-hen crouching low in sand and shadowed by wait-a-bit thorn twigs is pretty well hidden.

The Red Mustang |William O. Stoddard

The country was rolling veld dotted with wait-a-bit thorn-bushes; the farmhouses few but large; the roads heavy with sand.

The African Colony |John Buchan

wait-a-bit

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